VSSE Miitopia
by June Ellie
Summary: They are heroes at heart in every universe... Even one as vastly different as this one. In which we follow familiar faces in an unfamiliar land, and a man who believes himself to be too unremarkable to save the world finds himself doing so anyway... with the help of friends he'd never realised he wanted until they came to fight alongside him. Miitopia AU.
1. The Journey Begins

**Before you ask: No, Temporal Fates hasn't been abandoned, and it's not going to be abandoned either. The last few chapters wrapping up the canon arc have been giving me a bit of trouble, but I'm still working hard on them.**

 **This is a new side-project of sorts that I'm trying out. If you've heard of Miitopia, you might know that it lets you customise your own party members, and the NPCs as well if you want. I'm playing through the game with the VSSE agents as my party members and seeing what sort of adventures they might encounter. You don't have to be familiar with Miitopia to understand this fic, though you might spot some in–jokes to the actual game if you've played it.**

 **Usually, I prefer to plan everything out as much as possible before I write. But in this fic, the subplots are all dependent on the random events that play out in my game (though the overall plot follows Miitopia's storyline). As such, it's a test of how well I can improvise and weave a solid narrative out of chaos.**

 **This was actually Noodlebirdie's idea first. She's doing her own version of it, though hers is still being worked on. I thought it sounded fun, so I asked for her permission to try my hand at it. So, while the premise of this fic was her idea, I'm posting this with her blessing. Not to mention, our fics are based on the same premise, but we're writing them separately by ourselves and doing our own takes on them.**

 **As a sidenote: To the person who thought you were being clever by copying a chunk from my fic "The Case Opened" wholesale and changing it slightly for your own fic: You're pathetic.**

* * *

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a traveller named Giorgio. Though his journeys took him through many towns, he never stayed in any of them for long, shunning human contact and preferring to wander across the world by himself, wherever the path he walked might lead him. Some might call it a lonely lifestyle, but Giorgio was a solitary person by nature, and loneliness had long since been his only companion.

If someone asked Giorgio whether he was happy, he wouldn't quite have been able to say yes, but he wasn't discontent with his life either. Most of the time, he simply didn't feel anything. Life was just there, neither good nor bad nor anything in–between… It was mostly an empty vacuum.

And so for a long time, Giorgio drifted aimlessly from place to place like a silent shadow. Until one fateful day, his world changed forever…

* * *

In truth, it was the light that caught Giorgio's attention.

He had been making his way through an ordinary field, just like the many fields he'd passed through on his previous journeys. Aside from a few butterflies fluttering about, there was nobody in sight, which suited him just fine.

A flare of bright light at the edge of his vision caused him to look up, startled.

A strange, glowing orb that looked almost like a face was floating above him. As Giorgio stared at it in surprise, it dived down towards the flock of butterflies, hovering near them.

Suddenly, the orb suddenly turned invisible, leaving nothing but a pair of disembodied eyes floating in the air.

Before Giorgio had a chance to react, the eyes shot towards one of the butterflies in a blinding flash of light.

When his vision cleared, the sight before him filled him with a sense of horrified dread.

The pair of eyes was affixed to the butterfly's flapping wings… And they were glaring ominously at Giorgio.

As the butterfly lunged at him, he didn't stop to think. Dodging the flapping menace, Giorgio bolted from the field without a backwards glance.

He ran, not daring to look behind him and see if the bizarre creature was still following him. As his lungs screamed for air and his legs burned, he finally came to a stop, looking around frantically.

Fortunately, the creature was nowhere in sight.

However, he was dismayed to find that he could not recognise his surroundings. It seemed that in his haste to escape, he had lost track of where he was as well.

Scanning the nearby area, Giorgio spotted a well–worn path leading through the nearby forest. Hoping that it led to a neighbouring town rather than deeper into the woods, he cursed his inattention before setting off down the path.

* * *

To his relief, his instincts were correct. Before long, Giorgio entered a small town called Greenhorne. Though there were some people hanging around the town square, Giorgio kept his head down and just walked past them. He was uncomfortable enough talking to people under normal circumstances; in light of what had just happened, he was in no mood whatsoever for unnecessary human interaction.

If he could just find an inn, perhaps he could get directions back to where he'd been before, and then he could return to his normal life and forget about the strange encounter he'd just had. Soon enough, he'd be able to convince himself that he'd imagined the whole thing, and he wouldn't have to think about it again.

Lost in his thoughts, Giorgio nearly collided with a man wearing a top hat.

"Excuse me," he muttered, stepping aside.

"No harm done, stranger!" The man replied cheerfully. "Welcome to Greenhorne. I'm the Mayor here. How are you liking the town?"

"It's… it's fine," Giorgio replied, trying to shake the Mayor off and end the conversation.

"Ah, it's a nice town, isn't it?" The Mayor laughed, oblivious to Giorgio's discomfort. "Everyone's so friendly here. Have you spoken to the townspeople?"

Biting back a curse, Giorgio nodded, hoping that by pretending to agree, the Mayor would be satisfied and leave him alone.

Before the Mayor could say anything else, a commotion broke out in the town square as people began gasping and pointing up at the sky. A tendril of dread crept up his spine, replacing his irritation, and Giorgio slowly looked up as well.

A shadowy being cloaked in darkness was floating in the air, waves of ominous purple light emanating from him.

"I am the Dark Lord, Chaos," he hissed, his voice echoing through the air and in the darkest corners of Giorgio's mind. "This miserable world will be cleansed of suffering… And your town will be the first to be saved."

Even as Giorgio's instincts screamed at him to run, he remained rooted to the spot, paralysed by the primal terror flooding through him.

"Prepare for oblivion."

Chaos raised his hands…

And like a flood, the townspeople's faces began to separate from their bodies, flying towards the Dark Lord until he was surrounded by a cloud of floating orbs, each containing a stolen face.

"Enough. This will do for now." Chaos let out a mocking laugh. "Have fun watching your friends suffer… Until your turn comes."

With a guttural roar, Chaos vanished in a swirling vortex of darkness, taking the faces with him.

* * *

It took a few minutes for Giorgio's brain to start working again.

Swallowing the sick feeling in his stomach at his narrow escape, he looked around him at the chaos that had broken out. The overly friendly Mayor had been spared as well, but the man had been reduced to a gibbering wreck and didn't respond when Giorgio tried to speak to him.

A small, selfish part of him wanted to run from the town and not look back.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he was disgusted with himself. It was true that he shunned the company of others wherever possible, but how could he even think of leaving others to suffer while he ran like a coward and safeguarded his own wellbeing?

"Adventurer!"

The cry stopped him in his tracks.

A young mother whose son had lost his face was looking at him, hope and worry mingling in her expression.

Before Giorgio could correct her (he was certainly no brave adventurer; just a solitary drifter with no purpose in life), she continued.

"I beg of you… Please, help my son!"

Giorgio hesitated.

On one hand, he wasn't keen on becoming involved in something that would clearly be fraught with danger; especially since he didn't even know how to help, or if such a thing would be possible.

But looking at the desperation in the woman's eyes, Giorgio found that he couldn't bring himself to crush her hopes.

"I… I don't know how I can help, but I'll try," he found himself saying.

The woman's eyes brightened.

"Oh! Thank you so much!"

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a charm that looked both odd and strangely familiar.

"I know it isn't much, but please… Take this. It's a family heirloom… A good luck charm that's been passed down in our family for generations."

Giorgio opened his mouth to protest, but seeing the woman's steely expression, he knew she wouldn't take no for an answer.

With a nod of thanks, Giorgio accepted the charm, placing it into his own pocket.

"I'm sure the Dark Lord is still lurking somewhere nearby. Would you go take a look around?"

 _Sure, that sounds like a terrific idea. Go looking for an all–powerful being that just stole half the townspeople's faces, and let him have a shot at stealing my face too._

Swallowing the sarcastic response on the tip of his tongue, Giorgio nodded curtly at the mother and walked away, heading in the direction that she'd pointed towards.

 _I must be losing my mind. This is a terrible idea._

Despite the bitter thoughts running through his mind, Giorgio forced himself to keep moving, even as he wondered if he would come to regret his decision.

* * *

It was only a few minutes before he realised his mistake.

A dark shadow blotting out the sun above him was all the warning Giorgio had before Chaos swooped down from out of nowhere, blocking his path.

"Ooh, is someone trying to play the hero?" Chaos taunted with a wicked smirk.

 _No… I don't… I don't want to die…_

Giorgio flinched away from the Dark Lord, biting back a terrified cry as the malevolent being let out a cruel laugh.

 _What was I thinking? I'm no hero. I can't do this._

Shoving his shaking hands in his pockets, Giorgio found his hand closing around the charm the woman had given him earlier.

… _No. The woman trusted me to help. Stupid of her, to ask someone so useless to be a saviour… But if I go back on my word, I'll never be able to look at myself in the mirror again._

"Give the boy's face back," Giorgio retorted, hating the way his voice shook as he spoke.

The Dark Lord's eyes widened in amusement.

"You mean this?" With a wave of his hand, he summoned the child's missing face.

"If you want it…" A sweep of his hand, and suddenly there was a jelly–like blob of slime right in front of him, so close by Giorgio could smell the putrid breath from its non–existent mouth.

"You'll have to take it by force."

A flash of light exploded through the air, and the child's face shot towards the slime.

When the light faded, the slime was grinning maliciously at Giorgio, leaving no question as to the fate it had in store for him.

"Farewell, 'Hero'." Chaos let out a final cackle before vanishing again.

 _Oh God…_

As the slime opened its gaping maw, Giorgio squeezed his eyes shut, letting out a whimper.

A brilliant light enveloped the area, shining so brightly that he could sense it even through his closed eyelids.

Puzzled, Giorgio opened his eyes, casting his gaze around for the source of the light.

To his astonishment, the charm he had been carrying with him was floating in the air, giving off a dazzling yet warm glow.

As he stared at the charm, eyes wide with disbelief, the light suddenly flared brighter, engulfing him entirely.

* * *

Blinking dazedly as his vision returned to normal, Giorgio looked around wildly, trying to take in his surroundings.

The forest was gone entirely, as was the slime. He was standing in a technicolour landscape that was radiant beyond belief, yet oddly soothing. It almost felt like he was coming home at the end of a very long day, knowing he was safe and could rest comfortably.

Somehow, the sheer warmth welling up within him made him feel even more uneasy than he had been earlier in Greenhorne. It was a terrifying and entirely foreign sensation, feeling so utterly alive after countless years of just drifting through a void of numbness.

A small part of Giorgio wondered if he had felt this way once, before everything seemed to become dull and grey and empty. But that was surely impossible. Someone as worthless and pathetic as him couldn't possibly deserve to experience something so vibrant.

"Giorgio…" A musical voice echoed through the landscape.

It was soft and kind and gentle, and terrifyingly familiar.

 _No… It can't be…_

"Giorgio, can you hear me?"

"No… Go away! You're not real!" He shouted, clenching his fists tightly.

There was a moment of silence. When the voice spoke again, its words were tinged with sorrow.

"My son… Don't you recognise your mother's voice?"

Giorgio was trembling now, tears welling up in his eyes as he swallowed painfully, a rush of unwanted memories surging to the forefront of his mind.

 _Bright blue light flaring through the meadow… Losing his balance as a portal opened up right behind him… Strong arms grabbing hold of him, pulling him out of harm's way… The strange light vanishing without a trace, leaving behind an empty field… A broken cry echoing through the air, met only with silence…_

"You're gone," he whispered. "You vanished years ago, both of you; you can't be here…"

"But we are." A second voice spoke up, deeper than the first.

"Father…" Giorgio breathed, disbelief colouring his tone.

"Giorgio… Please, hear us out."

Though Giorgio had tried his best to bury his memories of the past, the ever–calm tone of his father's voice was impossible to forget.

A million questions bubbled up within him, yet he could do nothing but stand where he was, staring in the direction of his parents' voices as tears continued to flow down his cheeks.

"Giorgio… We missed you so much. I wish we could have been there to see you grow up."

 _Then why weren't you? Why did you have to leave me? How could you do that to me?_ He wanted to scream. At the same time, he hated himself for even entertaining those thoughts.

After all, it had been entirely his fault.

If his parents hadn't had to save him from falling into the portal, they wouldn't have been pulled into the portal instead. They would have been perfectly fine, and they wouldn't have had to forfeit their lives to save someone entirely unworthy of such a sacrifice.

"I… I'm so sorry… I didn't…" Giorgio stammered, hot shame flooding through him.

"Giorgio, no." His mother cut him off firmly. "What happened wasn't your fault. We know you've been blaming yourself all these years… But you can't keep thinking like that."

Giorgio went very still.

"You've been watching me," he said flatly, a hint of anger stealing into his voice.

 _Why didn't you ever say anything to me?_

"We wanted to speak to you, so many times… In fact, we tried to, more than once. But you could never hear us. In the end, all we could do was watch over you silently and hope we could reach you someday."

"So why now?" Giorgio retorted sharply. "What makes this time so different?"

"The charm you had with you… It brought you here, to our realm. Here, we may speak with you freely, even though we can't do so in the outside world."

"Just what the hell is so special about that thing?" Giorgio asked in bewilderment.

There was a sad laugh.

"Do you truly not recognise it?" His mother asked softly.

Almost unconsciously, Giorgio closed his eyes, trying to recall the charm's appearance.

The memory that came to mind instead stole the breath right out of his lungs.

 _The same charm, tied to the strings of his mother's favourite apron… The one she had been wearing on the day of the incident…_

"But how… It can't be! The woman who gave it to me said it had been in her family for generations!" Giorgio exclaimed.

"And indeed it has," his father replied. "That portal… It was a one–way trip into the distant past. Your mother and I spent a long time trying to find a way back home to you before we were forced to admit that it was impossible. We had no other choice but to live out the rest of our lives in the past."

"Your mother's charm was one of the few possessions we had with us. It became necessary to barter it for resources, that we might have a chance of surviving. Time did the rest, and the charm changed hands until it found its way to the family of the woman who gave it to you."

"If you were flung into the past, how are you here now?" Giorgio asked, a slight tremor to his voice.

"After we passed on… Because of our unique circumstances, among other things, we ascended to become guardian spirits. That is why we are able to dwell in this realm, watching over the world… and over you. That charm became a divine anchor, allowing whoever possesses it to cross over between our world and the outside world."

Giorgio was silent for a moment, trying to process his parents' words. "So, you've done this before, with the woman's ancestors?"

"No, you're the first. That family lived through times of peace. They never needed to use the charm as it was meant to be used. To them, it was merely a good luck charm, just as it had once been when we were alive."

"Why me then? Why now?" Giorgio demanded.

"Because you're up against something too big for you to handle alone. You're going to need all the help you can get."

At this, Giorgio let out a bitter laugh.

"What about when I had to fend for myself after you vanished? Or when I had to relive the incident over and over again in my nightmares, and I didn't even have the comfort of being able to tell myself it was just a dream?"

As though a dam had burst, the feelings of betrayal and abandonment he'd been trying to ignore for years came pouring out of him in one furious torrent.

"I've been alone for most of my life, and I'm fine with that. I don't need or want anybody's help," he spat.

For a long moment, there was no response. Then, his mother let out a soft sigh.

"This is what I meant. Giorgio… You survived that day, but you seem to have forgotten that. You tried to stop living, to stop feeling anything… You can't go on like this. We'll always be with you, watching over you… But you're still alive. You need to let yourself live again."

A gentle warmth enveloped Giorgio, almost like a hug. Falling to his knees, he finally broke down completely, weeping with shame and fear and grief as the emotions he'd locked away for so long were finally freed from the stony prison of his empty heart.

"Let this be the first of the divine gifts we bestow upon you: The return of your heart, and the power to start living again."

An odd sensation filled Giorgio, as though something heavy that had been weighing upon him without him noticing had slipped away, leaving him feeling both lighter and more vulnerable than he had been in years.

It terrified him… Yet, at the same time, a part of him revelled in it, this sudden freedom that was both foreign and familiar.

 _Is this what it feels like to be alive? How could I have forgotten?_

As white light filled his surroundings, his mother's voice came in one final whisper, echoing in his mind.

"Go forth and make us proud, my son."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

To clarify, this is a straight up AU, unlike some of my other fics, which seem to be set in another universe at first before revealing themselves to be occurring in the canon Time Crisis universe. All the Time Crisis characters in this fic exist entirely in the Miitopia universe with different backstories from Time Crisis canon, though they share similarities with their canon counterparts when it comes to personality, since they're the same person at heart.

Although I'm following the overall plotline of Miitopia, I've rephrased most of the dialogue to keep the essence of what's being said while using my own words to fit the tone I'm going for. As you can probably already guess from this chapter, I've also expanded on scenes which aren't as detailed in the game itself while weaving in my own subplots. As mentioned earlier, it's not necessary to have played Miitopia to understand this fic, but you might find it a bit more amusing if you're aware of exactly what I've changed from canon.

Also, for the major named characters who aren't from Time Crisis, like the Dark Lord Chaos, I mostly just ran with whatever randomly generated Mii the game assigned for each of them in my game. Though, with Chaos, I chose that name since it's a classic name for villains, and my game decided to put "Slenderman" as my Dark Lord, which felt far too silly for my liking.


	2. New Companions

**This chapter is dedicated to The Rainbow Monocerus, in hopes that wherever she is, she'll be back soon.**

* * *

When he opened his eyes again, it was like he could see for the first time.

Compared to the warmth and glory of the divine realm, the world seemed more subdued, less colourful… Yet, it was still far brighter and richer than it had been in years.

The slime was still grinning malevolently at him, but he felt strangely calm, in contrast with his earlier fear.

It was then that he realised he was gripping something in his right hand. Glancing down at himself, his eyes widened.

Giorgio was dressed in a chef's outfit, wielding a heavy and wicked–looking frying pan.

 _What on earth…?_

As the slime lunged at him, he brought his frying pan up to block the strike, pushing all thoughts of questioning his new outfit to the back of his mind for now.

It was like his body was moving on instinct as he dodged and blocked, weaving around the monster in a deadly dance.

Finally, he landed a firm strike on the slime with his impromptu weapon, and it exploded in a shower of jelly.

As the monster's remains dissolved, the boy's stolen face emerged in a brilliant orb of light, flying off in the direction of Greenhorne with a joyful shout.

With the danger past, Giorgio's unnatural calm drained out of him, and he collapsed to the ground, relief and exhaustion overtaking him.

"Nicely done, Giorgio."

His eyes widened at the familiar yet unexpected voice.

"What… I thought you said you couldn't speak to me out here!" He called out in confusion.

"Now that you've transcended the boundary between our worlds, we can speak to you as long as you carry the charm with you," his father explained.

"Alright, in that case… What's up with this?!" Giorgio gestured at the foreign outfit he was now wearing.

"That was the real purpose of the divine gift we gave you: To let you unlock the potential within you, and gain the power to fight. You couldn't do so before, because you were hiding your true self deep within."

"Why a chef?" He asked, a puzzled yet amused smile tugging at his lips. "Wouldn't something like a warrior have been more useful?"

In response, his mother let out a laugh. "Giorgio… Do you even know how to use a sword?"

There was an embarrassed silence.

"Besides, you chose it, not us. In your heart, you decided what you wanted to be, even if you weren't conscious that you were choosing it. All we did was to give you a push in the right direction and help you to find your heart again."

"If that's the case, my heart seems to have rather strange and random tastes," Giorgio replied dryly.

"Are you really sure about that?"

Giorgio hesitated for a moment. Unbidden, the hazy echo of a long–forgotten memory filtered into his mind.

 _A sizzling frying pan on the stove of a familiar kitchen… The tantalising smell of breakfast wafting through the house… A plate of delectable food, made all the more delicious by the care and love he could taste in each bite…_

"…Maybe not," Giorgio admitted, a pang of nostalgia shooting through him at the memory.

As his mother laughed again, he shook off the lingering ache, willing himself to focus.

"You should probably head back to Greenhorne now that you've saved that boy's face," his father interjected.

"I guess you're right," Giorgio answered reluctantly.

"Don't worry… We'll have more chances to talk again later."

With that solemn promise echoing in his ears, Giorgio began to make his way back towards Greenhorne.

* * *

Both the woman and her son were effusively grateful to Giorgio for his help. Despite his newly awakened emotions, Giorgio felt rather uncomfortable at their outpouring of gratitude, especially when the woman insisted on paying him.

"I can't accept this," he protested. "It's bad enough that I took your charm…"

As he said this, he hesitated, torn between returning it to the woman and keeping it. Knowing what it truly was, he was reluctant to part with it, but it wouldn't be fair to keep something that wasn't really his either.

The woman waved off his protests. "Don't be silly! You saved my son; I can't truly repay you for what you've done for us, but this small gift is my way of saying thanks. And you keep that charm as well! You'll probably put it to far better use than we have."

Seeing that she wouldn't be moved, Giorgio swallowed his protests and accepted the money, even as he felt rather uneasy at doing so.

After all, he wasn't a knight in shining armour or anything of the sort. He wasn't even a hero; merely a man chained down by his past who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

As he opened his mouth to say something, bright light bloomed through the area.

* * *

This time, when he opened his eyes, he was far less uncomfortable than he had been the first time he'd been pulled into the divine realm.

"Won't the woman wonder where I went?" He asked with dry amusement. "After all, I did just vanish in the middle of a conversation with her."

"Don't be ridiculous, Giorgio," his mother admonished, sounding fondly exasperated. "Time stands still when you're here. Just like with the slime earlier. When you leave, you'll be right where you were."

"Alright, so what is it now? Not that I don't enjoy our chats, but I doubt you'd have pulled me in here if it wasn't important," Giorgio replied with a smirk.

"Unfortunately, you're right. We have a task for you."

Hearing the seriousness in his father's voice, Giorgio instinctively straightened up, all traces of mirth vanishing from his expression.

"You've seen the Dark Lord Chaos and what he's capable of. He needs to be stopped."

A sick feeling began forming in the pit of his stomach.

"…You've got to be kidding me," he said flatly. "You expect ME to stop him?! Are you insane?"

He took a deep breath, trying to clamp down on the surge of fear flooding through him.

"I can't… I'm not a hero. I can't be the person you want me to be. Anybody else would be a better choice than me…" Giorgio's voice cracked on the last word, a sob welling up in his throat.

"Giorgio…" His mother chided softly. "You have nothing to prove to us. There's nothing wrong with who you already are. Trust in yourself; you're stronger than you think."

As the light enveloped him once more, Giorgio felt something wet trickling down his cheeks.

* * *

He stumbled slightly as reality came into focus again.

"Are you alright?" The woman asked, looking at him with concern.

"My apologies. It was just a dizzy spell," Giorgio muttered, hastily wiping away the wetness on his cheeks before she could notice.

Hurriedly making his excuses, he bade the woman and her son farewell before heading off towards the exit on the other side of Greenhorne, towards the Easin Hills.

* * *

It wasn't that he didn't want to help, really. Seeing people suffering because their faces had been stolen was bad enough. He couldn't begin to imagine how terrifying it would be to experience that first–hand.

But what if he wasn't good enough? He was afraid, and reluctant to throw himself into danger. How could someone as selfish as him possibly bear the weight of the people's hopes and be the saviour they wanted?

As these bitter thoughts ran through his head, Giorgio failed to notice that he was being pursued until it was too late.

The flapping menace that had chased him to Greenhorne suddenly swooped down in front of him, blocking his path. Alarmed, Giorgio stumbled backwards, only to find another tainted butterfly behind him, blocking off his escape route.

 _You've got to be kidding me…!_

Even with his new weapon, Giorgio was outnumbered, and he knew there was no way he would be able to fight off both butterflies by himself.

 _So much for that… And so the would–be hero was killed by two butterflies, bringing his journey to an abrupt end._

Gritting his teeth, he hefted his frying pan anyway, even though he knew it was a futile effort.

A soft laugh echoed through the air. "My son… Have you forgotten what I told you earlier? You're going to need all the help you can get."

A bright light flared across the field, and Giorgio instinctively closed his eyes to avoid the glare.

When his vision cleared, he found himself staring at a confused–looking youth who was standing not too far away from him, wearing armour and carrying a sword.

As soon as the youth saw Giorgio, his eyes widened, and he rushed towards Giorgio.

"Hang on! I'll help you!" He called out.

With no time to think, Giorgio nodded, taking up a fighting stance as the youth joined him. Between the two of them, they were able to defeat the butterflies soon enough, freeing the stolen faces to fly off and return to their owners.

"Phew, that was close," the youth laughed. "My name's Evan, by the way! And yours?"

"…Giorgio," he replied. "My thanks for your assistance, but I must be off."

"Aww, you're leaving already?" Evan pouted, a teasing grin tugging at his lips. "Where are you off to?"

Giorgio hesitated for a moment.

 _Where_ _ **am**_ _I off to? I can't exactly go back to what I was doing before… But can I really do this? …I guess there's only one way to find out._

"I…" He took a deep breath. "I'm heading off to stop the Dark Lord Chaos, who's been stealing everyone's faces."

Evan's eyes widened. "What?! Really? Can I join you?"

"Excuse me?" Giorgio was taken aback by Evan's enthusiastic response.

"You're off to save the world, right? I wanna help!" Evan laughed.

"I… I don't think…" Giorgio began.

"Aw, come on! It'll be fun!" Evan grinned mischievously at him. "Besides, what if you run into more monsters like before? You're gonna need my help!"

 _Fun? Really?_

Giorgio opened his mouth to refuse again. The last thing he wanted was an excessively cheerful, over–enthusiastic kid tagging along with him.

Then, a sliver of common sense reasserted itself.

As his parents had warned him, he wouldn't be able to do this alone. Even if Evan wasn't the first person he'd have chosen as a travelling companion, fighting with him would still be safer than trying to fight by himself.

Besides, looking at Evan's determined face, Giorgio could see that he wouldn't be dissuaded. Even if he refused, he was sure that Evan would insist on following him anyway.

"…Do as you please," he finally replied in a disinterested tone.

Despite Giorgio's lacklustre response, Evan's grin grew wider. "Alright! You won't regret this, I promise!"

 _Believe me, I regret it already._

"I'm glad to see you're both still alive."

Evan's eyes widened. "That voice… It's the one that brought me here!"

"As you journey together, I hope your bonds deepen and you grow closer. The stronger your friendship, the better you'll be at fighting together."

 _Really, Mum? That's your advice? Solve everything with rainbows and sunshine and the power of friendship? Thanks a lot._

Now that the conversation was over, Giorgio took a closer look at Evan. Despite Evan's youthful appearance, Giorgio realised that his companion wasn't as young as he'd assumed at first glance. If he had to venture a guess, Evan was at most a few years younger than him.

It still didn't change the fact that he was like an overgrown kid.

"Come on, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" Without waiting for a response, Evan began hurrying down the path, leaving Giorgio scrambling to catch up with him.

 _Why me?_

* * *

After several hours of walking, fighting monsters and ignoring Evan's repeated attempts at making small talk, Giorgio's stomach began growling.

Blushing slightly, he rifled through his belongings, hoping he had some food with him.

 _A HP Banana… Thank goodness._

As Giorgio prepared to eat the banana, he hesitated, glancing at Evan.

Though Evan seemed as energetic and cheerful as ever, he was probably getting hungry as well.

"…Hey, Evan," he called out, attracting his companion's attention. "Want to split this?"

Evan's eyes widened, and he gave Giorgio a bright smile. "I'd love to! Thank you!"

In spite of his earlier irritation towards Evan, Giorgio found himself giving Evan a small smile in return.

When they'd finished eating, Giorgio got to his feet, ready to continue moving.

"You know, you act cold and grumpy, but you're really a big softie, aren't you?" Evan commented, grinning fondly.

"Don't be ridiculous." Giorgio shot him an unamused look, starting off down the path as Evan's soft laughter echoed from behind him.

* * *

Fortunately for them, they soon came across an inn at the foot of the hills. Less fortunately, there was only one room available.

"Guess we're gonna be roommates. Hope you don't talk in your sleep, Giorgio!" Evan teased.

Rolling his eyes, Giorgio crawled into bed without answering. Though Evan didn't seem to mind the rooming situation, he would have preferred to have his own space and some privacy at the end of what had been a very long day.

Despite his exhaustion, it was a long time before he finally managed to drift off.

* * *

As morning broke, Giorgio and Evan left the inn, continuing on their journey.

"You look a bit tired," Evan commented. "Didn't sleep well?"

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Giorgio turned away, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

Evan frowned at him slightly, looking concerned, but Giorgio wasn't in the mood to deal with his exuberant companion at the moment.

* * *

Despite what he'd insisted, Giorgio found himself struggling to keep up with Evan. It was bad enough that Evan seemed to have endless amounts of energy. Giorgio's own tiredness wasn't helping matters either.

Then it happened: Giorgio felt himself trip over something, and the next thing he knew, he was colliding painfully with the ground.

 _Great. Can you get any clumsier?_

"Are you alright?" Suddenly, Evan was kneeling beside him, looking worried and offering him a hand.

Wincing in embarrassment, Giorgio took Evan's hand and let the younger man pull him to his feet. "My apologies."

"No worries." Evan gave him a soft smile, but there was still a hint of worry in his expression. "I guess I should slow down a bit so you don't have to keep running after me. Sorry about that."

They set off again, but at a slower pace this time.

* * *

As night fell, Giorgio found himself hoping there was another inn nearby. He desperately needed to rest before he ended up falling asleep standing up.

"Look! Over there!" Evan pointed to something in the distance.

To Giorgio's dismay, it wasn't an inn. Instead, there was another stolen face floating nearby. Squinting at it, Giorgio tried to remember who it belonged to.

"It's the Greenhorne guide's face!" Evan exclaimed. "Let's get it back to him!"

Giorgio groaned, but reluctantly followed Evan as the latter approached the orb.

 _The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can rest._

As expected, the face wasn't willing to simply let Giorgio and Evan capture it. Instead, it dived into a large butterfly flying nearby, fusing with it.

 _I knew it._

With a weary glance at Evan, Giorgio pulled out his frying pan and prepared to do battle with this new monster.

* * *

His exhaustion finally began to take its toll on him. Giorgio found himself struggling to block and dodge quickly enough, taking a few hard hits from the monster as a result.

"Damn it…" He hissed, gritting his teeth as he willed himself to focus.

"Hang in there, Giorgio!" Evan called out, looking worried even as he swung his sword at the butterfly.

 _I want to go home…_

Even as the thought crossed his mind, Giorgio mentally kicked himself.

 _Seriously? What are you, five?_

He was a grown adult, not some kid who needed rescuing. He just had to suck it up and get this over with.

"It looks like you need a bit of help."

"Ah! It's the voice again!" Evan exclaimed.

"Here, take these." A glowing orb formed from out of nowhere, and when the light faded, Giorgio was holding what appeared to be a spice shaker.

"What is that?" Giorgio asked curiously.

"HP Sprinkles. Useful in a pinch. Give them a try… And for goodness' sake, get some sleep tonight!"

Biting back a sarcastic retort (he was too old to be sent to his non–existent room by his parents' spirits, but he didn't want to push his luck and test their patience), Giorgio hurriedly ingested a handful of the HP Sprinkles, sighing with relief as his aches began to fade.

With renewed determination, Giorgio looked at Evan and nodded.

"Let's do this."

* * *

When they got to the inn that night, Evan glanced at Giorgio.

"Are you going to be alright?" He asked quietly.

Giorgio was too tired to muster up the energy to respond, so he just vaguely nodded in Evan's direction as he crawled into bed.

* * *

The next morning, Giorgio woke feeling much more refreshed than he had the previous day.

To his surprise, the sun appeared to be much higher in the sky than he expected. Evan was nowhere to be seen either.

 _How long was I out?_

Noticing a small note on the table, Giorgio picked it up.

 _Hey Giorgio,_

 _You looked super tired, so I decided to let you sleep longer. Gone to get some supplies; I'll be back soon!_

Letting out a breath, Giorgio placed the note back on the table, a stirring of guilt beginning to form.

He hadn't exactly been particularly receptive to Evan's friendly overtures so far. Despite this, Evan hadn't stopped trying to befriend him and looking out for him. He'd been worrying over Giorgio yesterday, and now he'd left Giorgio to sleep so that he would be well–rested before they set out.

 _Maybe I've been a bit harsh on him._

While Evan was still far too cheerful for Giorgio's liking, he clearly cared about Giorgio, even though Giorgio couldn't understand why. He hadn't exactly done anything to endear himself to Evan; yet, the younger man cared about him anyway.

Even as the realisation filled him with an unexpected warmth, a part of him was terrified at the prospect of letting someone else care about him… or coming to care for them in return.

Swallowing nervously, Giorgio tried to sort out his thoughts.

He wasn't sure if he could accept that Evan cared about him yet… But at the very least, he could find some way to repay Evan.

Nodding to himself, Giorgio quickly washed up and left the room, exiting the inn.

* * *

When Evan returned to their room in the inn, he found Giorgio sitting at the table, looking oddly nervous.

"Hey, you're awake! Did you sleep well?"

Giorgio nodded. "Yes, I'm feeling much better today. Thank you for asking."

"That's good to hear," Evan replied, brow creasing slightly as he took in Giorgio's expression. "Is something wrong?"

"I…" Giorgio swallowed, avoiding his gaze. "Here."

He held out a small, wrapped present Evan hadn't noticed before.

"What's this?" Evan cocked his head curiously.

"I… I got this for you. I hope it's alright…" Giorgio's cheeks reddened slightly, and he averted his gaze.

"Oh wow, really?" Evan exclaimed excitedly, taking the present from Giorgio.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Giorgio tense up slightly as he unwrapped the gift.

Opening the box, he peered inside…

It was a bottle of perfume.

"Is this…?" Evan was speechless.

"It… I mean… I'm not very good at picking gifts, and I wasn't really sure what to get you, but…" Giorgio winced slightly, as though bracing himself for Evan's reaction.

Evan flung his arms around Giorgio, wrapping him in a tight hug. Giorgio stiffened in surprise, but he didn't push Evan away.

"I love it. Thank you so much!"

"Really?" Giorgio looked at him uncertainly. "You're not just saying that, are you?"

Evan shook his head firmly. "No, I mean it. This is perfect. Thanks Giorgio."

After a moment, Giorgio gave him a small, tentative smile in return.

* * *

After a quick detour to Greenhorne to check on the restored guide, Giorgio and Evan set off again.

As they walked, something Evan had mentioned the previous day struck Giorgio.

"Hey, how did you know that face yesterday belonged to the Greenhorne guide? Are you from that town?" Giorgio asked curiously.

Evan turned in surprise, a delighted smile spreading across his face. It was the first time Giorgio had shown any interest in starting a conversation with him.

"Nah, I'm not. I just passed through it recently, that's all," he explained.

 _And you were still able to remember what everyone looked like?_

Shaking his head, Giorgio dismissed the sceptical thought. Given Evan's friendly nature, he wouldn't put it past Evan to remember everyone he came across.

"In that case, where are you from?"

"A small town, far away. You know the sort… A quiet and peaceful place where nothing much happens. I left home years ago in search of adventure," Evan replied.

As Giorgio accepted this with a nod, Evan glanced at him curiously. "What about you? Where are you from?"

Giorgio's thoughts stuttered to a halt.

"Oh, you know… Same as you," he replied vaguely, cursing himself for opening up that can of worms.

Fortunately, Evan simply accepted the answer instead of prying further. "So, you're a traveller as well? I guess we're more alike than I thought!"

 _Not really. You're brave and cheerful and in search of adventure… All I wanted was to be left alone._

Instead of saying anything, Giorgio merely quickened his pace, and they continued on in silence.

* * *

At length, they reached a fork in the path, marked by a signboard. The sign had arrows pointing towards the two paths, labelled "Tough Path" and "Easy Path".

Before Giorgio could head towards the Easy Path, Evan dashed towards the Tough Path, shouting, "Come on, Giorgio! Nothing ventured, nothing gained!"

"Evan!" Giorgio yelled angrily, but the younger man had already run out of earshot.

Grumbling to himself, he started down the path after his companion, muttering imprecations all the while.

* * *

Fortunately, even though they ran into a horde of goblins along the way, Giorgio and Evan were able to make their way through the path and to the nearby inn without too much trouble, though Giorgio was somewhat childishly refusing to speak to Evan out of exasperation at Evan's antics.

As they entered their room and prepared to settle in for the night, a knock sounded at the door.

"Who is it?" Giorgio called out cautiously.

The answer came from inside the room instead.

"We called for another adventurer to help you," his father responded. "You're doing well so far, but it'll be difficult to fight the Dark Lord with just the two of you."

"That's a different voice," Evan noted curiously.

Before Giorgio could respond to either of them, the door swung open.

A young lady walked in, carrying a staff and dressed in the garb of a cleric.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Alicia," she greeted with a soft smile.

"Be sure to play nice! And make Alicia feel welcome," Giorgio's mother instructed. Alicia looked startled at the voice, but she quickly recovered.

"So, there are two of you then?" Evan asked, frowning up at the ceiling.

There was no answer; his parents' spirits had apparently returned to the divine realm.

"Um… I hope you don't mind me joining you," Alicia said quietly, looking nervously at Giorgio and Evan.

"Hey, no worries! The more the merrier, right Giorgio?" Evan grinned at her, and she smiled at him gratefully in return.

Abruptly, Giorgio felt an unexpected surge of irritation towards Alicia. Trying to regain control over his emotions, he gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Of course. Welcome on board."

"We're going to need another room for Alicia though…" Evan began.

"Don't worry about it. I'll get a room across the hall," Giorgio cut him off. "See you in the morning."

"Giorgio…" Evan called after him uncertainly, but Giorgio left the room without looking back, trying to ignore the unwanted sense of jealousy suddenly burning through him.


	3. Bonding

As dawn broke, the party set out again, with Alicia as their newest member.

Evan glanced at Giorgio worriedly, wondering about his strange behaviour the night before. Giorgio had been strangely quiet all morning, even more so than usual. Even now, he was walking slightly apart from Evan and Alicia, not saying anything to either of them.

Just as Evan was contemplating catching up to Giorgio and asking him what was wrong, the older man came to an abrupt halt.

"You again?" The Dark Lord had suddenly appeared in a swirl of shadows, glaring at Giorgio and his companions.

"Give it up," Giorgio replied flatly, annoyance colouring his tone. "We're here to stop you."

"Oh, really?" With a snap of his fingers, the Dark Lord opened an ominous purple portal right in front of Giorgio, so close to him that it could have sucked him right in.

Giorgio stumbled backwards, going white as he stared at the portal with wide, horrified eyes.

 _No… No not again… Please…_

As the Dark Lord laughed, the portal's light began glowing more brightly, and the portal began pulling everything towards it, preparing to drag the party into its hungry grasp.

"Hold it right there!" An unfamiliar voice called out.

At the same time, a flash of green light struck the portal, breaking its hold on the party.

"Who dares…?" Chaos began angrily.

A man appeared from behind the party, striding forward calmly to place himself between Chaos and the party.

"So, you're this Dark Lord I've been hearing about… You won't be getting your way much longer if I have anything to say about it!"

Raising his hands, the man summoned a forcefield to protect the party, preventing Chaos from reaching them.

"Insolent fool!" The Dark Lord's eyes flashed angrily. "You'll pay for this. Next time, you won't be so lucky!"

With a chilling laugh, Chaos vanished in a swirl of shadows, leaving the party unscathed.

 _Breathe… You're alright. Everyone's fine. You're safe._

Giorgio inhaled shakily, trying to force his racing heart to calm down.

In his distraught state, he failed to notice Evan looking at him worriedly.

"Thank you for your help, kind sir," Alicia addressed their unexpected rescuer. "Who might you be?"

"I am the Great Sage, Ignis," he replied. "I'm a travelling mage. And yourselves?"

Alicia quickly introduced the party and explained their quest. By the time she was done, Giorgio had managed to compose himself somewhat, though his complexion was still paler than usual.

"I see. So, you're the party's leader, right?" Ignis looked at Giorgio curiously.

"…I suppose so," Giorgio muttered, not looking at Ignis. Now that he had regained his senses, he found himself feeling ashamed at his earlier breakdown.

 _How are you supposed to save the world if you keep falling to pieces like that?_

Upon hearing Giorgio's response, Ignis paused, looking at him more closely. "Let me guess… You think you're not strong enough, right?"

Giorgio's head snapped up, and he stared at Ignis in astonishment.

 _How the hell… Did he read my mind or something?_

"I can see it in your eyes," Ignis answered Giorgio's unspoken question. "You may think yourself weak, but I sense a strange power within you. Continue your journey, and trust in yourself. When you learn to accept your strength, you'll be able to tap into this power sleeping within you."

" _Trust in yourself; you're stronger than you think."_

Giorgio swallowed nervously as his mother's words from earlier echoed through his mind.

"…Alright," he replied softly. "I can't see this strength you think I have… but if you say so, I'll try to believe you."

"That's the spirit." Ignis gave him a small smile. "I must be off now, but if fortune is on our side, we'll meet again."

With a swish of his robes, Ignis vanished into the distance.

* * *

When they reached the inn that night, Giorgio vanished into his room without a word, leaving Evan and Alicia to room together again.

"Hey… Sorry about Giorgio." Evan looked at Alicia apologetically. "He can be kinda moody sometimes."

"Oh, it's fine," Alicia quickly reassured him. "I just hope I didn't do anything to offend him…"

"Nah, I don't think it was you," Evan replied. "I know he's been acting weird since you arrived, but… I don't know, it feels like there's something else bothering him."

"He seemed really shaken up earlier when the Dark Lord ambushed us," Alicia commented.

Evan recalled the horrified expression on Giorgio's face when the Dark Lord's portal had opened up. The way he'd been staring at it… It was almost like he'd been seeing something else entirely.

Even as he wanted to go see if Giorgio was alright, Evan had a feeling that Giorgio would be frustratingly reticent about whatever was bothering him. Trying to pry would probably lead to an argument ending with Evan being thrown out of the room.

With a sigh, Evan crawled into bed and closed his eyes, hoping that Giorgio would be in a better frame of mind after a good night's rest.

* * *

Giorgio scowled at nothing in particular as he lagged behind Evan and Alicia.

Their close shave with Chaos had shaken him up more than he'd cared to admit, triggering a slew of bad memories. As a result, he hadn't slept very well last night and was feeling more irritable than usual this morning.

It didn't help that Evan and Alicia seemed to be growing increasingly closer.

He knew he was being stupid, really. After all, he was the one who had volunteered to move to a separate room by himself. But now, with Evan and Alicia chatting to each other happily as they walked, he couldn't help but feel utterly left out.

A small part of him wished he could work up the nerve to just catch up to them and join in, but he felt as though he would be intruding if he did so.

So he continued to linger at the back by himself, even as a terrible sense of loneliness began to grow within him.

Evan and Alicia gave no indication that they'd noticed Giorgio's moody behaviour. For the rest of the day, he continued to watch them from a distance, barely speaking a word to either of them.

When Alicia healed Evan after he took a hard hit from a monster and he thanked her with a bright grin, Giorgio simply turned away, feeling a suspicious wetness to his eyes.

As he did so, he failed to see Evan looking at him contemplatively.

* * *

A knock sounded on Evan and Alicia's room door. Giorgio, who had been depositing the loot he'd collected for the day in the group's treasury, looked up in surprise.

"Who's there?" He asked guardedly, placing one hand on his frying pan.

The door swung open, revealing a young woman wearing mage's robes and wielding a wand.

"My name's Christy," the woman said. "I heard you were off to fight the Dark Lord, and I wanted to join you. Unfortunately, I seem to have missed you at the last inn."

"A pleasure to meet you, Christy," Evan greeted her with a bright smile. Glancing at Giorgio, a conspiratorial look stole across his face, and he leaned over to whisper something to Alicia.

Alicia listened for a moment, then giggled and nodded. "Yes, of course!"

Turning to Christy, Alicia gave her an impish grin. "It's such a relief to have another girl around. Want to share a room with me?"

Christy laughed, looking amused. "That sounds lovely, thank you."

"Alright then, Giorgio and I will get out of your hair for now," Evan replied. "See you in the morning!"

Before Giorgio could say anything, Evan grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the room.

* * *

As soon as the door to their room closed, Evan released his grip on Giorgio's arm, looking him firmly in the eye. "Alright. What's wrong?"

"What are you talking about?" Giorgio asked.

"Don't give me that. You've been acting weirdly over the past few days," Evan retorted, fixing Giorgio with a pointed look. "Something's clearly bothering you."

"I'm surprised you even noticed, with how cosy you and Alicia have been getting," Giorgio replied, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

"What?" Evan's eyes widened. "Is that what this is about? You're jealous of Alicia?"

Giorgio dropped his gaze, too ashamed to look at Evan.

"Giorgio…" Evan sighed. "Alicia's a new friend. Of course I wanted to get to know her. But that doesn't mean I don't want to hang out with you anymore. I can be friends with more than one person, you know."

Rationally, he knew Evan was right. But it didn't change the fact that he felt a stab of envy every time he saw Alicia and Evan together.

As Giorgio stood there, Evan leaned over and gave him a hug.

"You can be such an idiot sometimes," he said softly. "No matter what happens, I'm not going anywhere, alright?"

After a moment's pause, Giorgio sighed and wrapped his arms around Evan in return.

Evan pretended not to hear Giorgio sniffling slightly as they embraced.

* * *

When morning came, Evan found Giorgio already awake and looking out the window.

"Hey. How are you feeling?" He asked quietly.

Giorgio turned around at the sound of Evan's voice. Though he seemed a bit tired, the older man looked less agitated than he had been over the past few days.

"I… Better, thank you," Giorgio replied, giving Evan a tentative smile.

"I'm glad to hear that." A teasing grin tugged at Evan's lips. "Ease up on Alicia today, alright?"

Giorgio swallowed, looking somewhat apprehensive, but he nodded in response.

As Giorgio headed into the bathroom to wash up, Evan looked at him thoughtfully. Though it seemed that they'd managed to clear up the issue of Giorgio's feelings of jealousy, he had the feeling that there had been more to Giorgio's strange behaviour than just that.

Giorgio's reaction to the Dark Lord's ambush seemed to hint at some deeper issue plaguing him. But Evan couldn't begin to guess what it might be, and he feared his prickly roommate's reaction if he tried to dig into it.

Curious as he was, Evan reluctantly decided that it would be better to keep quiet about it… At least for now.

* * *

Alicia and Christy seemed to be getting along well, judging by their laughter–filled conversation as the party travelled.

Before long, they came across another stolen face, belonging to a rather grouchy man living in Greenhorne. With Christy's help, they were able to make short work of the monster that had stolen it in no time. As the liberated face flew back to Greenhorne to reunite with its irascible owner, the party made a beeline for the nearby inn.

As they prepared to turn in for the night, Giorgio hesitated for a moment.

"Wait, Alicia…" He called out.

As the cleric turned around in surprise, he looked at her nervously. "I… Could I speak to you for a moment?"

Alicia looked curious, but she obliged with a nod, following Giorgio as he led her away from the other party members.

Evan watched them leave with a fond grin, guessing what Giorgio was up to.

 _Good for you, Giorgio._

* * *

Once they were out of sight, Giorgio turned to Alicia. "I… That is to say… I wanted to apologise. I haven't been treating you very fairly."

Alicia's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything, allowing Giorgio to continue.

"You and Evan were getting along so well… I started feeling left out," Giorgio admitted, looking at Alicia uncertainly. "But I shouldn't have been taking my jealousy out on you, especially since it wasn't your fault at all. I know it probably doesn't mean much, coming from me… But I'm sorry for how I was acting."

As he finished speaking, Giorgio looked away, unable to bring himself to meet Alicia's eyes.

There was a moment of silence, then Alicia placed a gentle hand on Giorgio's shoulder.

"I forgive you," she said softly.

As Giorgio glanced at her in disbelief, she gave him an encouraging smile. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you as well, Giorgio."

Touched by Alicia's entirely unwarranted kindness, Giorgio gave her a nod, not trusting himself to speak.

"You know, Evan really does care about you." She grinned at Giorgio impishly.

Giorgio blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Alicia raised an eyebrow at him. "Why else do you think he asked me to room with Christy yesterday?"

"What?" At that moment, Giorgio remembered Evan and Alicia's whispered discussion just before Alicia invited Christy to be her new roommate.

In light of the conversation he'd had with Evan afterwards, the scene had slipped his mind entirely. In hindsight, he realised that Evan had been intending to get Giorgio alone and talk to him all along. Christy's arrival had simply given him the perfect opportunity to do so.

Seeing Giorgio's bewilderment, Alicia giggled. "Evan and I talked a lot about you, actually. He seems pretty interested in getting to know you better."

Giorgio didn't quite know how to respond to this revelation. Hurriedly mumbling something about being tired, he excused himself and fled to his room as Alicia's laughter filled the air.

* * *

The next day, the party faced off against a giant mouse, bearing the face of a woman from Greenhorne with a very worried boyfriend.

Somehow, despite its size, the mouse proved surprisingly agile, dodging the party's attacks with ease. As the party's healer, Alicia found herself casting spell after spell to heal her companions, growing increasingly exhausted as the battle raged on.

Finally, after an interminably long fight, they managed to defeat the mouse and free the woman's face. Unfortunately, the party found themselves rather banged up as a result of the brutal fight. Poor Alicia was the worst off: Aside from sustaining scrapes and bruises, she'd drained her MP reserves entirely over the course of the battle, leaving her in no fit state to patch herself up, let alone everyone else.

"Hey, guys…" Evan's usually chipper voice sounded rather subdued for once, with an undertone of exhaustion. "Would it be alright if we stopped here and took a breather for a while before continuing?"

With how winded they were, the other party members quickly agreed. After all, if even someone as lively and energetic as Evan was tired enough to admit to needing a break, it would probably be a bad idea to force themselves to soldier on.

Giorgio glanced at his companions worriedly. Having been lucky enough to get through the fight with only a few scrapes, he wished he could do something to help the others recover their strength.

At that moment, a thought occurred to him. Walking a short distance away from his resting companions, he began rummaging through his satchel for supplies. It didn't take long for him to find what he had been looking for and get to work.

* * *

Alicia winced as a wave of dizziness washed over her, feeling thankful that she was already sitting down.

She hated feeling useless like this, being unable to even cast a simple spell to heal her friends. In theory, magical exhaustion wasn't that difficult to deal with: She simply needed something to eat and a good night's rest to recover her strength. But right now, they were still out in the field in the middle of nowhere. It would be some time before they'd be able to reach another inn and get some rest.

Christy still had some of her magical reserves left, and despite their bruises and injuries, Giorgio and Evan were still able to fight. But without her magic, Alicia couldn't do much, unless one of them wanted to use her as a battering ram or something.

"Here, take this." Giorgio's voice broke through her thoughts at that moment. Though he sounded calm enough, Alicia could hear a hint of concern colouring his words.

Looking up at him in surprise, she found him standing there awkwardly, offering a small plate piled with sandwiches to her, Evan and Christy.

"What is this?" She asked curiously, taking one as her friends did the same.

"Cheese and tomato sandwiches," Giorgio replied, looking somewhat self–conscious. "It's nothing fancy, but I figured… well… you guys might feel better if you had something to eat."

Alicia bit into the sandwich, savouring the taste. Though it was just a sandwich, it tasted delicious and flavourful, and not just because she was exhausted and hungry. It was no wonder Giorgio was a chef: He had a talent for turning even simple fare into a gourmet feast.

Evidently, her friends thought the same.

"This is really good, Giorgio!" Evan exclaimed happily, reaching for another sandwich. Alicia was gratified to see that some of the colour had returned to his face, and he looked less worn out than he had earlier.

"Aren't you eating?" Christy asked Giorgio, looking at him curiously. "You were injured too, weren't you?"

Giorgio shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I didn't get hit as badly as the rest of you. You guys should eat up and recover some strength."

"Come on, Giorgio. Quit being stubborn and eat with us." Alicia pushed the plate towards him, urging him to take one of the remaining sandwiches.

Giorgio glanced at her, hesitating. In response, Alicia raised an eyebrow at him, a mischievous smirk tugging at her lips.

"Would you rather I simply pulled rank and ordered you to eat something? After all, I am the team healer."

With an exasperated sigh, Giorgio gave in, taking a sandwich for himself. Seeing a slight smile on his face, Alicia privately suspected that Giorgio wasn't quite as annoyed as he was pretending to be, but she said nothing, allowing him to feign irritation at her concern over his welfare.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why cheese and tomato sandwiches?" Evan spoke up at that moment, looking at Giorgio curiously as he polished off the crumbs of his sandwich.

Giorgio was silent for a moment. When he finally spoke, there was an undertone of nostalgia to his words.

"It was my childhood comfort food. Whenever I fell sick, my mother would make cheese and tomato sandwiches. Somehow, they always tasted like heaven to me. Maybe it was because I was sick, but it was more likely because…"

Glancing at Giorgio, Alicia saw that his eyes were unfocused, as though he was gazing into the distant past.

At that moment, he shook his head slightly as if to clear it, returning his attention to the present.

"Anyway, I know it's not quite the same thing, but I figured it might make you guys feel better as well, and I could prepare it easily enough with our supplies."

"Aww, I guess you really do care about us, Giorgio!" Evan grinned at the chef fondly.

Giorgio scoffed, raising an eyebrow at Evan. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm just being practical. Do you know how annoying it would be to drag all of you to an inn by myself if you're too injured to walk?"

Evan exchanged an amused glance with Christy.

"Whatever you say, Giorgio." Christy gave him a knowing look. "Just so you know, you're not fooling anyone."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Giorgio replied dismissively. "You guys seem to be feeling better, so we should get moving before it gets dark."

Watching Giorgio's retreating figure, Alicia couldn't help but wonder about the odd tone to his voice when he had been talking about his childhood. He had sounded wistful and almost melancholic, and Alicia had the feeling that there was something deeper and more complex tangled up in his memories of the past.

However, seeing as Giorgio seemed to be a rather private person, Alicia decided against prying further. He was entitled to some privacy, after all. And besides, prying would just make Giorgio even less inclined to open up to them.

Despite her curiosity about the enigmatic chef, Alicia nodded to herself, deciding to let Giorgio slowly open up about himself when he felt comfortable doing so.

* * *

Refreshed after a good night's rest at the inn, the party set out for the Riverdeep Cavern the next morning.

To their relief, the party found that their progress through the cavern was considerably smoother than their battle against the giant mouse had been.

Perhaps it was simply that they were more well–rested, or perhaps the monsters were simply not as tough.

Or perhaps their improved performance was because their teamwork had improved.

Though Giorgio would never admit it out loud to his companions, it felt as though he was starting to get used to fighting alongside them. With each passing battle, they were growing more and more in sync with each other, slowly learning to play to their strengths and support each other as a team.

He wouldn't admit it to himself either, but in the deepest corner of his mind, Giorgio was beginning to develop a hint of fondness for his travelling companions, not just as party members but as people he cared about.

Was this what it was like to have friends?

The notion was both frightening and thrilling.

Shaking his head, Giorgio firmly told himself to stop being ridiculous. After all, he barely knew them. The only reason they were together at all was because of the Dark Lord's reign of terror. Once their quest was over, they would go their separate ways and return to their old lives.

Despite this, a small part of him hoped that he wouldn't have to say goodbye to his companions anytime soon.

* * *

The next morning, the party reached the area on the other side of the cavern, hoping to find the last Greenhorne citizen's missing face.

They soon found it… But not before running into the Dark Lord again.

"So, we meet again," Chaos growled. "I would have thought that you'd give up and go home after our last encounter."

Almost involuntarily, Evan found himself glancing at Giorgio. The older man looked pale, but there was a steely resolve in his eyes that hadn't been there the last time.

"You… You don't scare me. I have a team backing me up." Giorgio's voice shook slightly, but he didn't back down.

Evan stepped forward, putting a hand on Giorgio's shoulder for support. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alicia and Christy moving closer to Giorgio as well, readying themselves to fight.

The Dark Lord's eyes widened, and he let out a mocking laugh. "My my, it seems we've found our backbone, have we? Very well then. Let's see if your "team" can deal with this!"

With a wave of his hand, he summoned his final stolen face, belonging to the old lady who ran a stall in the Greenhorne marketplace.

"While you're busy playing, perhaps I'll pay a visit to Greenhorne Castle. I've got something special in mind for that foolish king!"

As Chaos vanished in a flash of purple light, an imp materialised from thin air, fusing with the old lady's face.

Looking at his party members standing right beside him and backing him up, Giorgio felt a sudden surge of gratitude towards them.

Shaking it off, he bade himself to focus, firming his stance and hefting his frying pan.

It was time for battle.

* * *

Though the imp was somewhat tricky, the party managed to overpower it, freeing the old lady's face. With all the Greenhorne citizens reunited with their faces, they decided to return to the town and check on its residents now that order had been restored.

Almost as soon as they arrived, the Mayor approached them, a wide smile on his face.

"Thank you so much for what you've done for our town!" He exclaimed. "I just hope that Dark Lord doesn't come back for another try."

"Actually…" Evan spoke up hesitantly. "We ran into him a while ago. He said something about heading to Greenhorne Castle."

"What?!" The Mayor's eyes went wide. "Oh dear! That's very bad! Somebody needs to warn the King and his guards before something awful happens!"

Giorgio had a feeling he knew where the man was going with this.

 _Oh boy…_

Sure enough, the Mayor looked at them hopefully. "Adventurers, would you be willing to help us out again?"

 _And there we go._

Barely restraining himself from rolling his eyes, Giorgio sighed and nodded. "Sure, why not."

The Mayor's face lit up. "Oh! Thank you very much. Just wait a moment please."

Pulling out a pen and some paper, he began hurriedly scribbling something.

Once he was done, he rolled up the paper, tied a ribbon around it and handed it to Giorgio. "Here, take this letter of introduction. If you show it to the guard at the gate, he'll let you into the castle."

With a nod of acknowledgement, Giorgio placed the letter in his satchel, and the party began making their way towards Greenhorne Castle.

* * *

In no time at all, they found themselves at the front gate of Greenhorne Castle. Upon seeing the party, the guard frowned at them.

"Halt! This castle is off–limits to civilians."

Without saying anything, Giorgio handed the Mayor's letter of introduction to the guard.

Squinting at him suspiciously, the guard took the letter and began reading it.

After a few minutes, he finally looked up at the party again.

"Hmm… Well, since the Mayor has vouched for you, I suppose you may enter."

Biting back a sarcastic retort at the guard's half–hearted approval, Giorgio brushed past the man with his companions in tow.

* * *

Upon entering Greenhorne Castle, Giorgio and his companions were shown into the throne room for an audience with King Cornelius.

Already annoyed at being relegated to a messenger for the people of Greenhorne, Giorgio's mood worsened further when the rather rotund monarch proved to be more interested in eating than listening to their warnings about the Dark Lord. In fact, he outright dismissed their news as ridiculous and unbelievable.

Naturally, the Dark Lord chose that moment to make his move, stealing the King's face away.

Resisting the urge to throw his hands up in exasperation, Giorgio noted with bitter amusement that the King finally seemed to believe them now.

Tempting as it was to leave King Cornelius to his somewhat deserved fate, the party headed out the back exit of Greenhorne Castle in pursuit of the corpulent monarch's face.

* * *

"Is there a rule against saying 'I told you so' to kings?" Alicia commented sarcastically as the party set out.

"If you're willing to risk getting thrown in the dungeon, then by all means try it," Christy replied dryly.

"Hey, Alicia…" Evan spoke up at that moment before Alicia could respond. "There's something I've been wondering. I know warriors and mages are wandering adventurers, but don't clerics usually stay in a town and treat injured people? How did you end up wandering around like this?"

There was a wistful smile on Alicia's face. "Believe it or not, I wasn't even a cleric at first. My older brother Daniel and I… We ran a small shop in the town where I grew up. He was in charge, of course, but I helped out as much as I could. Our parents weren't in the picture, so Daniel practically raised me. We didn't have much, but we were happy anyway. I absolutely idolised Daniel, and I wanted to be just like him when I grew up."

"So what happened?" Christy asked quietly, glancing at Alicia.

"Daniel had a best friend named Jake. The two of them grew up together, and they were really close. Jake was always around when I was a kid, and he was almost like family. Well, actually…" Alicia blushed slightly. "I mean… They tried to hide it, but I wasn't blind. I knew he and Daniel were together."

Then her voice turned bitter. "It wasn't always perfect though. Jake was… He found the idea of living out a simple life in our hometown stifling. He wanted to go out into the world and do something grand and exciting. And he wanted me and Daniel to go with him."

"I could tell Daniel was tempted by the idea sometimes, but he refused to go along with it. Money was tight enough for all of us, and he wanted me to at least have a stable life until I was old enough to look after myself. Jake didn't force the issue, but we could tell he was getting increasingly restless as the years went by."

Alicia paused, taking a deep breath as though she was steeling herself.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Giorgio interjected at that moment, glancing at her. Although he seemed disinterested in the conversation, Alicia caught the hint of concern in his eyes.

"No, it's alright." Alicia gave him a small smile. "Talking about it helps me to remember why I chose this path."

"When I was 14, our shop had a huge order from a band of adventurers passing through the town. Daniel and I were ecstatic, of course. It was a huge break for us; for the first time in a long time, we had enough to live on and money to spare. Only…"

Her face darkened as she recalled what had happened next.

"That night… I don't really know what exactly happened. I was awakened by a commotion coming from the shop. I raced downstairs as fast as I could… When I got there, Daniel was lying on the ground unconscious, and our money was gone. Jake had attacked my brother, stolen from him and then fled, leaving him for dead. We never saw him again."

"That's…" Evan's voice trailed off, and he seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Yeah, I know." Alicia gave him a mirthless smile.

"After that, Daniel was unwell for a long time. His physical injuries weren't as bad as they could have been, and he recovered from them after a few weeks. But Jake's betrayal… Daniel wasn't the same afterwards. It broke him really badly. He withdrew from everything and just shut himself up in his room, spending almost all his time in bed."

"The town healers said there was nothing physically wrong with Daniel, but he wasn't getting any better. I tried my best to help, but… I was just a kid. I was struggling to keep our shop running so we still had food on the table… and I couldn't do anything to help fix my big brother."

A trickle of tears escaped, and she hurriedly wiped them away. Christy squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, eliciting a shaky smile from the younger woman.

"Sorry… I'm alright, really. It's just… That was probably the darkest period of our lives." Alicia let out a sad laugh. "It was a long time ago, but… At the time, it felt like things would never get any better."

"One day, a few months after the incident, a cleric passed through our town. She was on her way to another town for some business, I think; I wasn't exactly concerned with making small talk at the time. Everyone in town knew what had happened to Daniel, and she ended up hearing about him through town gossip. When she stopped by our shop to pick up some supplies, she asked if I'd be willing to let her try to help him."

"I had mixed feelings about her offer, of course. I mean, she was a complete stranger. But… Daniel had been ill for months, and the town healers couldn't do anything for him. I figured it couldn't hurt; after all, it wasn't as though he could get any worse."

"So the cleric went to see Daniel. She was…" There was a faraway look in Alicia's eyes, and her voice sounded both distant and awestruck as she spoke. "I still can't really explain it. She stayed with him for hours, but the whole time, she didn't cast a single spell."

"What?" Evan blinked at her in surprise. "Then, how did she…"

"She just sat beside him, talking to him for nearly the whole day," Alicia replied. "Daniel didn't seem to be responding or even listening to her; he'd pretty much stopped talking entirely since Jake's betrayal. Everyone else had given up on him by that point, aside from me, and even I was… But the cleric just kept talking to him anyway."

"I'm not quite sure what she said to him; I didn't exactly want to hang around trying to eavesdrop. But when I came upstairs to see them in the evening, Daniel was actually sitting up in bed and talking to her. His speech was halting, his voice hoarse from disuse… But when he turned and greeted me, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard."

"After the cleric's visit, Daniel started to get better. It wasn't an instantaneous recovery; he was still pretty fragile for some time afterwards. But I could see the difference. It took time, but he was slowly starting to put himself back together. Gradually, he began leaving his room again, venturing out into the town. He started getting back into running our shop and relearning how to smile… And then one day, I heard him laugh, and I knew I had my big brother back again."

Despite the tears flowing down her cheeks, there was a broad smile stretching across Alicia's face.

"The cleric spoke to me before she left town. Even years later, her words are still fresh in my mind. She told me that a cleric's duty is to heal others. But spells can't always fix what ails a person. Sometimes, a person's body may be healthy, but their heart sickens instead. At times like this, you need to look past the surface and find what's really broken."

"I decided I wanted to follow in her footsteps and help people who really needed it. So when I came of age, I left my hometown to train as a cleric. And afterwards, I began roaming the world and helping people I met along the way. I'm still pretty inexperienced, and I can't do what that visiting cleric did for Daniel yet… But one day, I hope I can save someone who's lost all hope, the same way she saved my brother."

By this point, the other party members seemed teary–eyed as well, even Giorgio, who had been doing his best to appear unaffected.

"How did your brother react when he learned you were leaving home?" Evan asked curiously.

Alicia laughed. "He was happy for me. In fact, Daniel's the one who encouraged me to set out. I was a bit hesitant at first; I didn't want to leave him all alone. But Daniel told me not to worry about him; he's doing fine now, and he can take care of himself."

"I asked him if he wanted to come with me, but he said he was happy just running our shop and living peacefully. But he wanted me to forge my own path instead of just staying in our hometown because of him. So, here I am."

As Alicia concluded her tale, the other party members were silent, each lost in their own thoughts. They certainly hadn't expected Alicia to have such a poignant reason for choosing to be a cleric.

Without saying a word, Christy reached over and gave Alicia a hug. The younger woman was surprised for a moment but wrapped her arms around Christy in return.

"What was that for?" She asked, an amused smile tugging at her lips.

"I'm glad you're with us," Christy responded with a smile of her own.

The conversation turned to other things as the party continued on, but there was a palpable closeness to their dynamic that hadn't quite been there before.

* * *

 **For the Great Sage Ignis, I'm actually using the name given to me by the game this time. I know practically nothing about Ignis except that he comes from Final Fantasy 15, which I know nuts about. He has a pretty cool name and a nice character design, so that's good enough for me.**

 **Also, Jake Hernandez is an asshole in every universe.**


	4. Of Terror and Sleepless Nights

**The events of this chapter actually occurred in Noodlebirdie's game rather than mine. However, it was a one in a million chance that was too good to pass up, so with her permission I worked it into my story. Many thanks~**

* * *

The next day, everything went wrong.

It had started out well enough. Giorgio had woken up feeling relatively contented. After hearing Alicia's story yesterday, he felt closer than ever to his party members. It wasn't just about fighting together anymore. There was true camaraderie slowly developing between them; the sort of bonds that seemed capable of withstanding the test of time, regardless of the obstacles that lay ahead of them.

He should have realised it was a bad sign. After all, everything had been going pretty well recently. The party's teamwork had been steadily improving, and their fights against monsters had been going more and more smoothly as a result.

So when they ran into a group of banshees while travelling, none of them were overly concerned, believing it would just be another fight.

Giorgio still wasn't quite sure what happened. One moment they were fighting as usual, and the next thing he knew, a pained cry abruptly rang out. When he turned to look, he found Alicia lying motionlessly on the ground.

"Alicia!" Christy called in alarm, running to her friend's side to check on her. Shaking the cleric worriedly, she received no response.

"It's no good, she's out cold." Christy bit her lip, looking worriedly between Alicia and the other party members.

Giorgio's eyes widened slightly in panic, but he forced himself to focus.

"Keep between her and the banshees, and make sure they can't get to her," he ordered. "We'll have to protect her until we can get her someplace safe."

Christy looked pale and nervous, but she nodded resolutely as she shifted her stance, making sure that Alicia's unconscious body was safely behind her.

Naturally, without their healer, the party soon found themselves struggling to stay afloat as they tried to fight off the banshees while keeping Alicia safe.

A split–second mistake was all it took for things to go from bad to worse.

Christy turned at exactly the wrong moment, catching a hard swipe from a banshee that sent her crashing backwards to the ground.

"Christy!" Evan shouted, taking half a step towards her. Then he glanced at the banshees and seemed to reconsider.

"Giorgio, stay back and protect them," he said firmly. "I'll handle the banshees."

"What?! Evan, don't—" Giorgio reached for Evan, trying to stop him, but the younger man was already out of reach.

Despite his cheerful nature, Evan was a fierce fighter on the battlefield. He managed to hold out surprisingly long, keeping the banshees away from his fallen teammates as Giorgio tried to tend to them.

However, even a fearless warrior wasn't invulnerable. Try as he might, Evan began to grow tired, swinging his sword more clumsily and dodging more slowly as the battle wore on.

Finally, it happened. Evan stumbled slightly as he dodged a banshee's attack, just as another banshee ambushed him from behind.

"NO!" Giorgio lunged towards Evan, but it was too late. The young warrior collapsed with a strangled yell, clutching at his side.

 _No… No no no no no…_

A rising sense of panic rapidly began overtaking Giorgio's other senses. His party members… No, his **friends** … were badly hurt and unconscious. He was still surrounded by banshees, and he was reaching the limits of his strength as well. If he tried to fight the banshees while keeping his friends safe, he would end up joining them in oblivion.

 _Mother… Father… Somebody, please help me…!_

As his eyes darted between his fallen comrades and the cackling banshees, Giorgio spotted a gap in the circle of enemies. Mind racing, he began formulating a desperate plan.

As the banshees lunged at him once more, Giorgio dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding their deadly claws. Wasting no time, he grabbed hold of his teammates' limp forms and began dragging them away from the monsters.

It was awkward and cumbersome, and he found himself mentally apologising to his friends for possibly aggravating their injuries as he did his best to shake off their pursuers.

Finally, the banshees gave up and stopped chasing him, vanishing into the forest. Giorgio came to a stop, untangling himself from his still–unconscious party members as he tried to catch his breath.

With the immediate danger gone, he made another attempt at rousing his friends, but they didn't react in the slightest.

" _Do you know how annoying it would be to drag all of you to an inn by myself if you're too injured to walk?"_

Like with most jokes, his sarcastic comment from the other day had been a lot funnier before it actually came true.

Thankfully, it was still early afternoon. Giorgio shuddered at the thought of being caught out in the field when night fell, having to protect both himself and his helpless companions from hordes of monsters that he could barely see.

Awkwardly picking up his companions, Giorgio silently pleaded with them to hold on.

* * *

He wasn't quite sure how he managed it, but somehow, Giorgio was able to carry his friends all the way back to the last inn they'd stayed in. The innkeeper gaped upon seeing him, but the man thankfully made no comment.

It was a bit cramped having all four of them in one inn room, but Giorgio didn't want to risk putting them in separate rooms and having to run back and forth between rooms to tend to them.

After a moment's hesitation, he placed Christy and Evan in the room's beds, leaving Alicia to rest on the sofa. As the first one to be knocked out, Alicia seemed to have the least visible injuries, so the sofa would probably be good enough for her. Giorgio hoped she didn't actually have more severe injuries that he simply couldn't see.

Having laid his party members down to rest, Giorgio found himself staring at them helplessly. Unfortunately, there weren't any clerics staying in the inn at the moment. And Giorgio himself barely knew anything about healing; he'd bandaged up their wounds as best as he could, but he couldn't do much more to help them.

It seemed that all he could do was wait, and hope that his friends would awaken soon.

Pulling a chair over, Giorgio seated himself in the centre of the room where he could keep an eye on all three of them at once, in case something happened.

As he settled into his seat, he felt something wet trickling down his cheeks.

 _Please be alright…_

* * *

As Evan slowly regained consciousness, he became aware that he was lying on something warm and soft, with what felt like a blanket covering him. His body was aching painfully, and there was a throbbing sensation pounding through his skull.

 _Ngh… What happened?_

Slowly cracking an eye open, he squinted at his surroundings through blurry vision.

"Evan!" A familiar voice called out from beside him. Wincing, Evan turned to look.

Giorgio was sitting by his bedside, looking both worried and overwhelmingly relieved.

"What… Giorgio? What's going on? Where are we?" Looking around the room, Evan realised that Christy and Alicia were sitting nearby as well, looking as exhausted as he felt.

"All three of you got knocked out by a pack of banshees… I managed to get away and brought you guys back to the inn to recuperate," Giorgio explained, sounding oddly shaky.

Looking at him more closely, Evan realised that his eyes seemed red and swollen, and there were traces of tear stains on his cheeks.

"Giorgio…" Evan looked at the older man in surprise.

"I'm just… glad you're all fine. You guys were so still, I couldn't wake any of you…" Giorgio's voice cracked slightly, and he hurriedly turned away, wiping roughly at his eyes.

Reaching out weakly, Evan took hold of Giorgio's hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "I'm sorry we worried you, Giorgio."

Giorgio swallowed, forcing a small smile as he glanced at Evan. "It's alright… The important thing is that you guys are safe. It might be a bit crowded in here tonight though…"

"There should still be rooms available for the night," Alicia interrupted at that moment. "You guys stay here; Evan shouldn't be moving yet. Christy and I will get a room across the hall."

For a moment, a flicker of fear flashed across Giorgio's face. Then it was gone, replaced by concern.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "Both of you are still recovering…"

"We'll be fine," Alicia assured him. "We're definitely in no fit state to start casting spells, but we're well enough to cope by ourselves now."

Giorgio hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly nodded. "Alright. If you guys need anything, I'll be here. Make sure you rest up properly."

"Same goes to you," Christy answered. "Protecting us from those banshees and carrying us back here must have been tiring. Get some rest, and we'll see you in the morning."

As the ladies exited the room, Giorgio glanced down at Evan, who seemed to have drifted off, still worn out from his injuries.

Doing his best to shove aside the unwanted memories of his companions getting knocked out, Giorgio crawled into his own bed.

Eventually, his exhaustion won out, and he slipped into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

 _The forest is incredibly dark. Much darker than it should be for the middle of the day, even with how thickly the trees grow._

 _In front of him, an endless horde of enemies stretches on as far as he can see._

 _Behind him…_

 _Alicia lies motionless on the ground. Her head struck the ground hard when she fell, and blood is oozing out of a nasty wound at the back of her skull._

 _Beside her, Christy is slumped lifelessly against a tree, clutching at her side. Her limbs are twisted at odd angles, and Giorgio can tell that they're too badly broken to be healed._

" _Giorgio…" Evan's voice echoes weakly._

 _Running to his friend's side, Giorgio's eyes widen as he registers the gaping wound in Evan's chest, blood dripping steadily from it._

" _Just hold on… You're going to be alright…" Even as Giorgio desperately tries to staunch the bleeding, he knows that it's already too late._

" _So cold… Scared…" Evan rasps._

 _With one final gasping breath, his eyes slide shut and he goes limp._

" _No… No, please… Don't leave me…!" Giorgio cradles Evan's lifeless body, weeping as it begins to grow cold._

" _Giorgio…"_

 _His head snaps up at the sound of his name._

 _To his horror, his party members have lurched to their feet like puppets dancing on twisted strings, glaring at him furiously with dull, lifeless eyes._

" _Your fault…"_

" _Why didn't you save us?"_

 _He shrinks away from the hatred in their eyes, but they continue advancing towards him, and there's nowhere for him to run, trapped by monsters on one side and his dead friends on the other._

" _No, don't… Please, I'm sorry…!"_

"GIORGIO!"

His eyes snapped open.

A shadowy figure was leaning over him, and there were hands gripping him firmly. With a panicked cry, Giorgio twisted free from his captor's grip, landing hard on the ground. Scrambling backwards, he frantically cast his gaze around the room, desperately searching for an impromptu weapon.

"Hey hey hey, calm down! It's just me. Everything's alright. You're safe." The figure raised his hands placatingly as he spoke, and Giorgio's mind finally made the connection.

"E–Evan?" He gasped.

"I'm right here, Giorgio." Suddenly, Evan was kneeling right beside Giorgio, concern written all over his face.

Giorgio stared at him for a long moment, scarcely believing his eyes. The warrior still seemed tired and bruised from the day's events, but he was **alive**.

Lunging forward, Giorgio enveloped Evan in a tight hug, weeping into his shoulder as the dam finally broke, tears streaming down his face with wild abandon.

Evan stiffened in surprise for a moment before wrapping his arms around Giorgio in return, rubbing soothing circles on his back and whispering gentle reassurances until Giorgio's shaking subsided.

When Giorgio had finally calmed down somewhat, Evan looked at him worriedly.

"Are you alright?"

Giorgio nodded, but he didn't let go of Evan. As Evan made to pull away, Giorgio stopped him.

"Could we just… Stay like this for a while? I can't… I don't want to be alone right now."

They were sitting in a rather awkward position on the floor, but seeing how frightened and vulnerable Giorgio looked, Evan simply nodded, relaxing into Giorgio's embrace.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes before Evan finally spoke up.

"That must have been some nightmare you had."

He felt Giorgio shudder slightly.

"Yeah… I guess you could say that."

Evan hesitated, then quietly asked, "Do you… want to talk about it?"

For a long moment, there was no response. Just as Evan was beginning to think Giorgio had fallen asleep, the older man's answer came in a whisper.

"All of you died. You guys hated me… Said it was my fault…"

"It was just a bad dream, Giorgio," Evan said softly. "We're all fine."

"You nearly weren't," Giorgio replied bitterly. "I couldn't do anything when you guys got hurt. If I hadn't managed to get away in time…"

"But you did," Evan countered. "Giorgio, you saved us. It's not your fault that we got hurt. And if it weren't for you, we'd be even worse off."

Giorgio sniffled slightly, tightening his grip on Evan. With a soft sigh, Evan pulled him closer, gently stroking his hair.

Gradually, the soothing gesture calmed Giorgio. His breathing slowed, and moments later, Evan felt him going limp and slumping against him.

Carefully scooping Giorgio up, Evan carried him over to his bed, doing his best not to jostle him awake. Untangling himself from the sleeping chef, he placed Giorgio on the bed as gently as possible, pulling the covers over him. Giorgio let out a contented sigh, snuggling deeper under the blankets with a small smile on his face.

After watching him for a few minutes, Evan crawled back into his own bed, closing his eyes.

 _Sweet dreams, Giorgio._

* * *

As the party set off again the next morning, Christy glanced at Giorgio. The chef looked pale and exhausted, as though he hadn't gotten much sleep.

"Did something happen last night?" She asked Evan, brow furrowing in concern. "Alicia and I heard some sort of commotion. We were wondering if we should go check it out, but it died down pretty quickly."

"Well…" Evan looked over at Giorgio, but the older man didn't seem to be paying attention to their conversation.

"Giorgio had a nightmare last night," he explained quietly. "It was pretty bad… He was screaming in his sleep, and he broke down crying when I woke him up."

"I'm not surprised," Alicia said softly. "Considering what happened yesterday, it makes sense that he'd be pretty badly shaken up. I mean, we just got knocked out. He was the one who had to watch us get attacked and take care of us afterwards. As much as he tries to pretend otherwise, he cares a lot about us."

"Don't let him hear you say that," Christy cautioned, casting a knowing look in Giorgio's direction. "For some reason, he seems to find it embarrassing to admit that he has a heart."

"That's alright, we'll let him have his pride." Alicia giggled a little. "We know the truth… And he knows it too, even if he denies it."

At that moment, Giorgio turned back to glance at them, having realised they were lagging behind.

"What's wrong? Do you guys need to rest for a while?" He asked, looking concerned.

Hiding his grin, Evan shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Giorgio. We're fine. Let's keep going."

Giorgio studied his companions for a moment, as though gauging whether to press the issue. At length, he reluctantly nodded, slowing his pace to walk alongside them.

They set off again, more slowly this time, light conversation filling the air as they journeyed on.

* * *

Having decided to play things more cautiously in light of their previous defeat, not to mention their lingering injuries, the party found themselves making slow but steady progress through the forest.

As night fell, they came to a stop in a clearing in the middle of the forest.

"We should make camp here for tonight," Christy suggested. "Trying to press on in the darkness probably wouldn't be a very good idea."

"Sounds good to me. I'm about ready to nod off…" Giorgio admitted, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Evan glanced at the chef. Between fretting over them and his own nightmare–induced sleep deprivation, Giorgio looked visibly exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes and frown lines marring his forehead.

Between the four of them, it didn't take too long for them to set up a tent for shelter.

"We should…" Giorgio hesitated, glancing around the forest. "Someone should keep watch. It's not safe here at night."

"I'll do it," Evan replied without missing a beat. "I'm feeling wide awake, so you guys can go rest."

"Are you sure?" Alicia asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Evan nodded. "Don't worry, I'll keep the monsters away."

Although he was addressing Alicia, his eyes were fixed on Giorgio the entire time.

Glancing at Evan, Giorgio swallowed nervously, hearing the unspoken promise in the warrior's words. Evan's solemn gaze seemed to burn through him, and his heart began beating faster as a strange warmth filled him.

Feeling his cheeks redden, Giorgio coughed, hurriedly turning away. "Right, well… Thanks Evan. I'm… going to get some sleep. See you guys in the morning."

As he vanished into the tent, he thought he heard his friends' amused laughter echoing behind him.

* * *

Evan sat on a log by the campfire, his sharp eyes scanning the surrounding area.

Although he'd volunteered to keep watch partly because he wanted to set Giorgio's mind at ease and help guard his sleep, Evan was genuinely feeling full of energy, ready to act on a moment's notice if monsters attempted to sneak up on their camp.

A rustling sound caught his attention. Placing one hand on his sword, Evan turned in the direction of the noise.

To his surprise, the tent flap lifted and Giorgio emerged.

"What's wrong?" Evan asked, carefully studying Giorgio as the older man took a seat beside him.

Though Giorgio still looked somewhat tired, his eyes seemed alert as he glanced at Evan with an expression of worry mingled with embarrassment.

"Couldn't sleep," Giorgio replied after a moment.

"Nightmares again?" Evan guessed, keeping his voice low to avoid disturbing Alicia and Christy.

To his surprise, Giorgio shook his head.

"No, nothing like that. I just… I was worried about you being on watch all by yourself, that's all."

As Evan blinked at him in surprise, Giorgio averted his gaze, flushing slightly. "I mean… That is…"

Before Giorgio could embarrass himself further, Evan stopped him.

"Thanks for looking out for me, Giorgio." He placed a hand on Giorgio's shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly.

Giorgio's face reddened further, but he didn't try to pull away, which Evan counted as a win.

"Want to stay here and keep me company for a while?" Evan looked at Giorgio hopefully.

"I…" Giorgio hesitated for a moment, then nodded, a tentative smile tugging at his lips. "I would like that. Thank you."

Slipping an arm around Giorgio's shoulders, Evan smiled back at him, and they began chatting amicably as the night wore on.

* * *

When Alicia woke up, she was surprised to find that Giorgio was nowhere to be seen.

"Is Giorgio up already?" She asked Christy, who was already awake and sitting up.

Christy shrugged. "I assume so. He wasn't in the tent when I woke up. Shall we get something to eat?"

With a nod, Alicia followed Christy out of the tent, yawning slightly.

"Morning guys!" She called out cheerfully.

"Shhh!"

Surprised, Alicia turned to look at Evan.

It was then that she noticed Giorgio sitting right next to Evan… with his eyes closed, head resting on Evan's shoulder as the soft sound of steady, deep breathing filled the air.

"Well, isn't this interesting," Christy remarked, lips twitching with amusement. "I thought Giorgio said he was exhausted last night."

"Apparently, he couldn't sleep," Evan replied in a low voice, grinning impishly. "Came wandering outside in the middle of the night and said he was worried about me keeping watch all by myself."

"So how'd this happen?" Alicia gestured towards the slumbering chef, trying to stifle her laughter.

Evan almost shrugged, catching himself at the last moment before he accidentally disturbed Giorgio. "I guess he was still tired after all. One moment we were chatting, the next thing I knew he was fast asleep. I didn't want to risk waking him by trying to move him, so I figured I'd just leave him be."

A bubble of laughter escaped Alicia as she finally lost the struggle to stay quiet. Beside her, Christy was biting her lip, looking desperately as though she wanted to burst out laughing as well.

It wasn't every day that they got to see their moody leader in such a vulnerable position, after all. To be honest, he looked almost cute, with his defences down as he snuggled up to Evan in his sleep.

With a soft groan, Giorgio began to stir, eyes slowly blinking open to see what had woken him.

Upon seeing Alicia and Christy's amused expressions, Giorgio stared at them in confusion for a moment. Then his eyes widened as he realised he was leaning against something that felt suspiciously soft and warm. Turning his head, he was met by Evan's wide, teasing grin.

Letting out a startled yelp, Giorgio hastily pulled away from Evan, trying to straighten his clothes as his cheeks went painfully red.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Evan laughed. "Did you sleep well?"

"I… You didn't see anything, alright?!" Giorgio snapped at his snickering companions, scrubbing a hand across his face as he tried to regain his composure.

"Whatever you say," Christy responded with a smirk. Evan was wearing a far too innocent expression, while Alicia made no effort whatsoever to disguise her mirth.

After a quick but tasty breakfast which Giorgio put together with their supplies, the party was feeling refreshed and ready to set off again. Giorgio had managed to compose himself somewhat by this point, though there was still a faint blush colouring his cheeks.

Fortunately, his companions had apparently remembered the saying "Never make an enemy of the cook" and made no comments about his visible embarrassment. However, Giorgio could practically feel the fond amusement emanating from them for the rest of the day.

Despite his mortification, a small part of him had to admit that enduring his friends' gentle teasing as they travelled together was hardly the worst thing in the world.


	5. Sparks Flying

It was late afternoon when they finally caught up with King Cornelius' missing face. As the disembodied face opened its mouth to plead for help, it was abruptly sucked into a stone golem, fusing with it and bringing it to life.

Although the golem managed to land a few heavy blows on the party, they were eventually triumphant, destroying the monster and freeing the King's face. Deciding to resolve the situation as soon as possible, the party chose to backtrack to Greenhorne Castle first before stopping by an inn for the night.

This time, King Cornelius seemed to be in a much better mood. Aside from thanking the party for restoring his face, he paid them a rather generous reward from the royal coffers for their services.

Naturally, given what he'd just experienced, the King was finally willing to regard Chaos as a serious threat. As the party prepared to leave the castle, he asked them to go speak to the Princess and warn her about Chaos.

Seeing as the monarch had just rewarded them and it probably wouldn't be wise to anger him all over again, they agreed to pass the message along, heading to the castle's East Wing to speak to Princess Sarah.

Unlike her father, Princess Sarah seemed much gentler and friendlier. Upon hearing what the party had to say, she bit her lip nervously, wringing her hands.

"I see… Thank you for telling me this. I'm sorry to trouble you, but I have a favour to ask of you. I have a friend who's in Greenhorne at the moment, and I'm afraid he might not know about Chaos. Would you be willing to help me check on him?"

Although the party was already rather tired from their day's travels, none of them could bring themselves to deny such a polite request from the soft–spoken Princess.

"Of course, Your Highness," Giorgio answered, bowing to her.

Sarah's face lit up at his response.

"Oh, thank you very much! Please look for a man named Garland, and tell him…" She hesitated for a moment, looking somewhat apprehensive. "Tell him that Sarah is worried about him."

Inwardly, Giorgio found himself wondering about the casual form of address in the Princess' message to Garland, especially with the hint of fondness he had noticed in her voice. However, he chose not to comment on it, merely bowing to her again before taking his leave with the rest of his party.

* * *

After a quick trek to Greenhorne, the party entered the town in search of Garland.

Before they had a chance to locate him, the mother who Giorgio had helped earlier called out to them.

"Adventurers, I'm so worried! My son… He's gone missing! I can't find him anywhere! Please, won't you help me look for him?"

 _Oh no…_

Giorgio rubbed his temples, trying to stave off his growing headache. "I'm sorry Miss, but…"

Before he could refuse, Evan interrupted him.

"Actually, we're already looking for someone, but we can keep an eye out for your son as well," he assured the woman, shooting Giorgio a pointed look.

Giorgio bit back a sigh but didn't protest.

The woman's eyes brightened. "Oh, thank you! Actually, to tell you the truth, I asked someone else to help me earlier, but… Well, perhaps this isn't the nicest thing to say, but I think he might be in over his head. He and my son might be together. Perhaps you could check the hills nearby and see if they're there?"

 _So, we went from searching for one person, to two people, and now three. Brilliant._

Nodding curtly to the woman, Giorgio bade her farewell, leaving Greenhorne with his party in tow.

* * *

As they were wondering where to begin their search, a loud commotion nearby drew their attention. Glancing sharply at each other, the party drew their weapons and headed in the direction of the sound.

Sure enough, the woman's son was there, looking terrified as three goblins cornered him. He wasn't alone either: There was a man nearby, desperately attempting to fend off the goblins with his bare hands.

Naturally, this foolhardy attempt wasn't going well at all.

Before the party could intervene, the goblins tossed him aside with a hard swipe, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Ugh…" The man groaned as Alicia rushed to his side, checking him for injuries. "I'm alright for now… But the boy…"

"We'll take care of it," Evan quickly assured him.

After hurriedly dispatching the goblins, the party turned to check on the boy, only to find that the terrified child had already scurried off back to Greenhorne by himself.

"Should we go after him?" Christy asked worriedly. "What if he gets into trouble again on his way back?"

"He should be fine; we're not too far from Greenhorne, so he should be able to make it home safely," Giorgio replied. "We can check in on him later to be sure."

Turning his attention to the man, Giorgio knelt down beside him, offering him a hand. "Are you alright?"

Wincing slightly, the man accepted Giorgio's hand, allowing the chef to help him up. "I think so. Thank you for your help."

"So you're the person that boy's mother asked for help?" Evan asked curiously.

The man nodded. "Yes, though I'm afraid I wasn't much help at all. My name's Garland, by the way."

"What?" Giorgio's eyes widened.

"Is something wrong?" Garland asked, frowning slightly.

Giorgio shook his head. "No, it's just that we've been searching for you too. Princess Sarah asked us to look for you. She says she's worried about you."

"Is that so…?" Garland looked both pleased and slightly embarrassed, and Giorgio found himself wondering again about the relationship between Garland and Princess Sarah.

With a shake of the head, Garland dismissed the subject. "Never mind that for now though. What were those monsters anyway?"

The party quickly explained the situation with Chaos, and the resultant mess that had been unfolding.

"I see…" Garland sighed. "And all this happened while I was away from the castle… Not that I would have been much help if I had been there anyway. Thank you for your assistance, but I must be off now."

Before the party could say anything, Garland rushed off, vanishing into the distance.

"Do you think…" Alicia glanced in the direction that Garland had gone.

Christy shook her head. "There's no use speculating right now. We should head back to the castle as well and tell the Princess we've delivered her message."

* * *

After a quick stop at Greenhorne to check on the boy, who had indeed returned safely to his mother, the party made their way back to Greenhorne Castle.

Sarah seemed relieved to hear that Garland was safe, thanking the party profusely and giving them a small reward for their help despite their protests.

In the middle of this, King Cornelius entered the room. Upon seeing the party talking with Sarah, he scowled.

"Sarah, how many times have I told you to forget about Garland? You're betrothed to Prince Vox of Neksdor now, and you had better remember that."

For a moment, Sarah looked as though she wanted to protest, but she lowered her eyes deferentially. "Yes, Father."

The King looked at her for a moment longer before nodding in satisfaction and turning his attention to the party.

"Since you're here, would you escort the Princess' fiance to the castle? He should be on his way here soon."

Glancing at Sarah's unhappy expression, Giorgio was tempted to refuse, but something told him that the King would simply find someone else to do so if the party chose not to help.

Swallowing his protests, Giorgio reluctantly nodded.

"Splendid!" King Cornelius exclaimed, seeming not to notice the party's uneasy expressions. "Prince Vox is from the kingdom beside ours, and he should be waiting at the Arid Frontier."

With one final glance at Sarah's downcast expression, the party left Greenhorne Castle in search of Prince Vox.

* * *

As the party set out for the Arid Frontier, the conversation naturally turned to speculation about Garland and Princess Sarah.

"There's definitely something going on between them," Christy commented. "Did you see the way the Princess looked when talking about him?"

"Yeah, and from Garland's reaction when he heard she was asking about him, I'm pretty sure he feels the same way," Alicia replied, giggling slightly.

"Still, he's not exactly someone you can rely on," Giorgio commented. "I mean, he was about to get beaten up by a bunch of goblins before we arrived."

"He might be useless at fighting, but his heart is in the right place," Evan pointed out. "He was trying to defend that kid from the goblins, even though he was clearly outclassed. And he seems to care a lot about Princess Sarah, even if he's unable to do much to protect her. I think it's kinda sweet, and that's probably why she likes him too."

"I suppose," Giorgio conceded with a shrug. "Still, don't you think that someone who's too weak to fight for themselves or the people they care about isn't much use?"

"Well…" Evan glanced at Giorgio. "I think that sometimes, being willing to fight is already admirable in itself, even if you're not strong enough… Actually, especially if you're not strong enough. It's easy for someone strong and powerful to fight; but if you know you're not very strong and still try your best to protect others, that's truly a noble act."

Giorgio swallowed nervously, glancing back at Evan. For some reason, he had a feeling that Evan hadn't necessarily been referring to Garland when he said that. The younger man's pale blue eyes seemed to look right through him, and he found himself strangely reluctant to look away.

"Come on, guys," Christy interrupted at that moment. "It's getting late, and we don't want to have to camp out in the desert tonight."

Reluctantly breaking eye contact with Evan, Giorgio nodded and turned away. "Yes, you're right. Let's get going."

As they continued on their way, Giorgio found himself wondering about the way Evan had been looking at him, as though he had wanted to say something else.

Even as a small part of him suspected he already knew what Evan had been trying to tell him, Giorgio firmly pushed all thoughts of the matter out of his mind, telling himself not to be ridiculous.

While he could admit that Evan was a good friend, the idea that the warrior might be interested in anything more than friendship was utterly absurd.

Despite knowing this, Giorgio couldn't help feeling his heart beating faster, and not because of the speed at which they were travelling towards the inn.

* * *

The next morning, the party continued making their way through the Arid Frontier.

"What kind of a desert has this many tall mountains to climb?" Alicia complained, looking thoroughly annoyed.

"Don't tell me you're getting tired already," Christy remarked teasingly.

"Hopefully, we should be getting close to the place we're supposed to meet Prince Vox," Giorgio interjected. "Just hang in there a bit longer."

"Whatever you say, _Mum_." Alicia stuck out her tongue at him.

Giorgio gave her a flat look but didn't say anything in response.

However, Alicia's comment brought to mind the realisation that he hadn't heard his parents' voices in some time.

With a bit of surprise, he realised that this didn't bother him quite as much as he expected.

While he certainly wouldn't mind hearing from them again soon, he didn't _need_ them in the same way he had at the start of his journey. He wasn't alone anymore, after all. He had friends to talk to and banter with, and he was slowly starting to feel as though he could actually open up to them someday.

"Come on, guys! Get a move on!" Evan called out, interrupting Giorgio's thoughts.

As had become an increasingly frequent occurrence, hearing Evan's cheerful voice sparked an entirely different set of emotions, but Giorgio quickly shut down that line of thinking before he could dwell on it further.

"We're coming," Giorgio called back, doing his best to maintain a neutral tone. "Maybe you should slow down, unless you want to collapse from heatstroke."

"If I do, will you carry me to the nearest inn?" Evan winked at him cheekily.

The resultant heat spreading across Giorgio's face had nothing whatsoever to do with the climate.

 _…Damn it._

* * *

The party finally arrived at the site where Prince Vox was waiting in the late afternoon.

Although his aristocratic features should have made him look handsome, they were spoiled by the ugly scowl the haughty Prince was wearing.

"It's about time you got here," he snapped. "My useless servants couldn't handle a simple monster, and I've been forced to wait here by myself this whole time."

The party exchanged dismayed glances, but the Prince didn't seem to notice.

"Now, hurry up and take me to the Princess. And don't you dare dawdle!"

Without a word, the party began escorting Vox back towards Greenhorne Castle.

* * *

Though the trek to Greenhorne Castle didn't take long, it felt like a lifetime.

The Prince spent the entire journey boasting about himself and complaining about the party's supposed incompetence. When they ran into a Griffin near the border of the Arid Frontier, his complaints only grew worse, and he spent the entire battle angering the Griffin by berating it repeatedly while the party attempted to fight it off.

When they finally triumphed over the beast, Vox proceeded to turn his nose up at them, declaring that he could have handled it a lot more quickly and smoothly by himself.

"I feel really sorry for Princess Sarah," Christy murmured.

"It must be awful being in love with someone else while being betrothed to such a jerk," Evan commented. "No wonder she seemed so unhappy."

"We shouldn't talk about this here." Giorgio cast a warning glance in Vox's direction. "Let's just get this over with as soon as we can."

Despite feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the situation, the party continued to make their way to Greenhorne Castle as Vox's arrogant voice echoed through the air.

* * *

Upon arriving at the castle, the party hastily escorted Vox to the King, who thanked them and gave them a reward for their efforts. The thought of taking the money made them rather uncomfortable considering the task they had just performed was one which would only lead to unhappiness for Sarah. However, the party decided to reluctantly accept it, knowing that refusing would just anger the King.

Before they could make their escape, the King commanded them to check on Sarah and inform her that her fiance had arrived.

Glancing uneasily at each other, the party made their way back to the East Wing of the castle to speak to the Princess.

As they entered the Princess' room, two figures flew apart in surprise.

"Father, we weren't—!" Sarah exclaimed, looking flustered, before realising who she was talking to.

"Oh, adventurers. My apologies, I thought you were…" She blushed slightly, looking embarrassed. Beside her, Garland was glancing nervously at the party.

"Sorry for startling you, Your Highness," Evan said apologetically. "Your father commanded us to inform you that Prince Vox is here."

"What?!" Sarah's eyes widened in alarm. "He's here now?!"

"I should go," Garland blurted out, eyes darting nervously around the room. "I wasn't supposed to have snuck in here in the first place…"

Suddenly, before anyone could react, the door flew open.

"Princess Sarah, your beloved fiance has arrived at last!" An unpleasantly familiar voice announced.

As soon as he caught sight of Garland and the Princess, a thunderous expression stole across his face.

"You!" With a few quick steps, Vox stormed across the room, slamming Garland against the wall. "How dare you touch the Princess?!"

Evan instinctively jerked forward, wanting to intervene, but Giorgio pulled him back with a shake of the head. This was between Sarah, Garland and Vox; attempting to interfere would just make things worse.

"Stop it!" Sarah pleaded, grabbing hold of Vox's sleeve. "Please, don't hurt him."

Vox roughly shook her off. "Stay out of this, Princess. It's time I teach this nobody some manners."

"Don't you dare treat Sarah like that!" Garland suddenly shouted, giving Vox a hard shove and a fierce glare.

"Garland, please don't…" Sarah reached for him.

Garland glanced at her apologetically. "I'm sorry Sar– Princess, but I can't just stand by and let him treat you like a mere plaything."

"But you're going to hurt yourself…" Sarah gave him a small, sad smile. "I'll be alright, so please… just go."

"I'd rather let myself get hurt than see you suffering like this," Garland insisted. "This arrogant scumbag doesn't deserve you!"

"You insolent worm," Vox hissed. "How dare you?! Just for that, I'm going to teach you the true meaning of pain!"

Before he could make good on his threat, the door flew open again.

"What is going on here?" King Cornelius demanded.

With a final glare at Garland, Vox released him before turning to the King.

"Your Majesty, I found this knave accosting Princess Sarah in her chambers. I was simply teaching him a lesson."

"We were just talking!" Garland retorted, eyes flashing angrily. His expression softened slightly as he glanced at Sarah, who was looking at him worriedly.

"Enough!" The King snapped. "All of you, get out of my daughter's room now. Except my daughter. Sarah, I had better not find you letting anybody else in here. Especially Garland. Is that clear?"

"...Yes Father." The Princess averted her gaze, looking miserable.

As Vox and Garland left, still glaring at each other, the King turned to Giorgio and his companions.

"This mess is probably going to keep repeating itself until something is done to sort it out. Perhaps some calming fruit might help. It should grow deep in the Windward Woods nearby. Go fetch some and bring it back here."

 _Well gee, since you asked so_ _ **nicely**_ _…_

For what seemed like the hundredth time in recent memory, Giorgio fought the urge to throw his hands up in exasperation as he left the castle with his friends.

* * *

"So, exactly how did we go from chasing the Dark Lord to getting caught up in a love triangle that sounds like something from a bad romance novel?" Christy commented sarcastically.

"I was surprised Garland actually tried to pick a fight with Prince Vox," Alicia chimed in. "I mean, if King Cornelius hadn't intervened, it probably wouldn't have ended well for Garland."

"Garland was initially planning to slip out before Prince Vox caught him," Evan pointed out. "He only got angry when the Prince was rude to Princess Sarah. He might have been eager to avoid a confrontation at first, but he was willing to put himself in harm's way anyway for Princess Sarah's sake. That speaks volumes about how much he cares about her."

"All the same, I don't see this ending well for him," Giorgio remarked somewhat cynically. "Sure, he loves her and she loves him, but they're not allowed to be together, and regardless of how much trouble he's willing to go through to help her, he lacks the necessary skills to back up his desire to protect Princess Sarah. It's touching to see, but ultimately pointless."

"Well… you might be right," Evan admitted. "But… I'd like to believe that they'll get their happy ending anyway, against all odds."

Giorgio was silent for a long moment.

"I doubt that will happen," he finally answered. "But… I really hope I'm wrong."

* * *

 **By the way, if you're wondering about the names of the members of the Royal Court (King Cornelius, Princess Sarah, Prince Vox and Garland)… Guess who's been playing Mobius Final Fantasy recently? :P**


	6. Into the Nightmare

**To address Noodlebirdie's review:**

I chose to keep my description of the various characters to a minimum because they technically lack a canon appearance in the game. Since each character's appearance depends on which Mii is assigned to that role in my game, the only descriptors I include are the universally applicable ones, such as the King being overweight, which is a characteristic he would have regardless of which Mii is used for his face.

Incidentally, the characters known as King Cornelius and Garland in my story are portrayed by Pooh Bear and Chicken Little respectively in my game; you can kind of see why I didn't bother using their appearances to describe the characters. I suppose I could have imagined my own versions of each character and added in my own descriptions, but I decided against that for two reasons:

1\. I'm awful at visualisation, and thus have pretty much no mental image of how the various characters look.

2\. I figured that it was ultimately more important to emphasise the various characters' personalities. With Prince Vox, for instance, he's characterised by his arrogant and haughty demeanour. Likewise, with Princess Sarah, I focused on showing her gentle and soft–spoken nature. By doing so, I'm able to flesh out their characterisations while allowing readers' imaginations to fill in the blanks and develop their own mental images about what they think the characters should look like based on their personalities.

In case you're wondering, the main characters (ie the party members) have the same appearance as their canon counterparts; since those characters need no introduction, I figured I didn't need to specifically spell out their descriptions when introducing them. If I need to reference specific descriptors such as eye colours and whatnot, I'd just do so within the flow of the text.

Of course, there are a few party members introduced later on who have rather unorthodox job classes requiring a bit more description. But if a character's appearance isn't specifically mentioned to be unusual in some way, you can safely assume that they look like their Time Crisis counterpart.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: Despite its title, this chapter does not contain any nightmares. Well, none that we see, anyway, although it's implied at one point that one of the characters is experiencing a nightmare.**

* * *

It was late evening by the time the party reached the heart of the woods. After a bit of searching, they managed to find a tree with calming fruit growing from it. The fruit in question had the same shape as an apple but had an odd, bright blue colour instead.

Seeing as it was getting late and it had been a very long day, the party decided to rest at an inn for the night before delivering the calming fruit to Greenhorne Castle in the morning.

* * *

As morning dawned, the party set off for Greenhorne Castle to complete their errand.

The first clue that something was wrong was when they noticed that none of the castle's guards were anywhere in sight.

Then they heard shouting and swords clashing from within the castle.

As one, the party drew their weapons and bolted inside to see what was happening.

Almost immediately, the cause of the commotion became apparent:

Greenhorne Castle had evidently been overrun by imps.

The castle guards were doing their best to fend off the attacking swarm, but what the imps lacked in size, they made up for in sheer numbers.

Wasting no time, the party jumped into the fray to help out. Slowly, the tide began to turn as they were able to gain the upper hand and push back against the invading imps.

"Thank you for your assistance, adventurers," one of the guards spoke up as they subdued yet another group of imps. "We can take it from here for now. But the King… in the throne room… Please, hurry and help His Majesty!"

With no time to lose, the party made their way to the throne room, leaving behind the royal guards as they continued to battle the remaining imps.

* * *

As they burst into the throne room, the party found a larger imp assaulting King Cornelius. Naturally, the portly monarch was ill–suited for battle and was visibly tiring as he weakly attempted to fend off the imp's attacks.

Fortunately for him, the party stepped in and took over, managing to overpower the imp and defeat it.

King Cornelius mopped his brow, his expression a peculiar mix of relief and worry. "The Dark Lord… He's here! He's right inside my daughter's room! Please hurry!"

Glancing at each other in alarm, the party broke into a run, heading for the East Wing as fast as they could.

* * *

As soon as they entered Princess Sarah's room, it became apparent that something was very wrong.

Chaos was nowhere to be seen, but Garland was lying unconscious on the ground, an ugly bruise marring his forehead. Meanwhile, Sarah was standing very still, with her back to the door.

"Princess… Are you alright?" Giorgio called out cautiously.

Slowly, the Princess turned around.

A surge of horror shot through Giorgio as her faceless body stood there, barely moving a muscle.

"Oh no… We were too late…" Alicia clapped a hand over her mouth, looking dismayed.

"What on earth were those things?" A shrill cry suddenly rang out.

Turning, the party found Prince Vox cowering in a corner of the room, glancing hysterically between Sarah's empty shell and the door.

Before anyone could react, he bolted for the door.

"I'm scared! I want my Mummy!" They heard him screaming as he ran off.

"So much for the flawless Prince Vox," Christy commented sarcastically, glancing at the Prince's retreating form in disgust.

"Ngh… What…" A low groan drew their attention away from Vox and his cowardice.

Garland was blinking dazedly as he struggled to sit up, trying to get his bearings.

Moments later, his eyes widened in alarm. "Sarah! The Dark Lord… He… No!"

"Take it easy, you're still hurt," Evan cautioned. "Did you see which way he went?"

"I… I think so. He was heading towards Nightmare Tower," Garland replied in a halting tone, pressing a hand to his forehead with a wince.

"Alright. Then we'll head there and see what we can do about this," Giorgio replied firmly.

"Wait… Let me come with you!" Garland pleaded.

"Don't be stupid!" Giorgio retorted harshly. "You're in no shape to be going anywhere right now. And besides, you're hopeless at fighting."

"Giorgio!" Evan shot him a glare.

"Don't look at me like that." Giorgio glared back at Evan. "It might not be the most diplomatic thing to say, but it's true. Do you really think he's going to stand a chance against the Dark Lord?"

"No… You're right," Garland interjected before Evan could respond. "I know that I'm definitely no match for the Dark Lord… But I don't care. I'm going anyway. If I just sit here and do nothing while Sarah is in trouble, I'd never be able to live with myself."

"What are you—" Giorgio reached out to stop him, but with a sudden burst of strength, Garland shoved him away, bolting out of the room and vanishing out the back gate of the castle in the direction of Nightmare Tower.

 _That idiot…!_

With a surge of irritation, Giorgio sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"We'd better hurry after him before he gets himself killed."

* * *

"This place gives me the creeps." Giorgio shuddered slightly as a sudden gust of wind blew through the drafty tower.

The name Nightmare Tower was certainly apt: The tower's interior was dark and cold, with stone walls and floors that were illuminated by flickering torches burning with ominous purple flames. The dim lighting created strange shadows which almost seemed to be following the party as they slowly made their way through the tower.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark, Giorgio?" Evan raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly.

"Perhaps I'd prefer to be able to see where I'm going, instead of blundering ahead without thinking and running headlong into danger," Giorgio retorted.

Watching them, Alicia suppressed a sigh.

The warrior and the chef had been squabbling on and off ever since the party left Greenhorne Castle. Evan was still upset about Giorgio's rather cruel words to Garland, while Giorgio thought that Evan was being unreasonable since he was just being honest and trying to stop Garland from getting himself killed.

"Yeah, well, maybe if you were willing to take a risk or two sometimes—" Evan began saying, shooting Giorgio a pointed look.

"Guys, can we please not do this right now?" Christy interjected, sounding exasperated. "In case you've forgotten, we're in a tower teeming with monsters, trying to rescue Princess Sarah's face. Could you save your lovers' spat for AFTER we get out of here?"

For a moment, Giorgio looked as though he was about to snap at her as well. Then he took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.

"Yes, of course. You're right. My apologies, Christy."

Without so much as a backwards glance, Giorgio turned and walked away from Evan, who scowled at Giorgio's retreating back before heading off in a different direction.

Behind them, Alicia and Christy exchanged a weary look but said nothing.

* * *

With monsters lurking around every corner, the long climb through the floors of Nightmare Tower was no walk in the park.

With the added factor of Giorgio and Evan still giving each other the cold shoulder, the climb went from difficult to hellishly frustrating.

Alicia and Christy found themselves splitting their attention between battling monsters and keeping an eye on the two men as they progressed through the tower. During battles, Giorgio and Evan would ignore each other and attempt to take on the enemies without each other's help. Somehow, neither of them had gotten badly injured yet, though Alicia was sure it was just a matter of time before one or both of them ended up needing her to heal them.

The thing was, both of them had a point. Evan hadn't exactly been wrong when he pointed out that Giorgio's blunt honesty had been rather cruel.

However, even though Giorgio's words had been harsh, he hadn't spoken out of malice. In his own prickly way, Giorgio had been trying to watch out for Garland and keep him out of harm's way.

The problem was that both of them were too stubborn to see each other's point.

By the time night fell, Christy and Alicia were on the verge of finding an empty room to lock Giorgio and Evan in, intending to force them to stay in there until they patched things up.

Unfortunately, given that they were still in hostile territory, doing so would probably be a terrible idea.

"We should stop here for tonight," Giorgio said brusquely. "We've cleared out the monsters on this floor, so it should be safe to get some sleep. I'll keep watch just to be sure though."

Without waiting for an answer, he turned and strode away to seat himself by the stairs leading to the next floor.

In turn, Evan found a spot on the stone floor as far away from the stairs as possible and promptly lay down with his back to the stairs, closing his eyes.

"I swear, if those two don't stop acting like stubborn idiots soon, I'm going to set them both on fire and see whether they come to their senses," Christy muttered.

"At this point, I'm almost tempted to let you try it," Alicia replied, meeting Christy's weary gaze with a knowing glance of her own.

With a sigh, Alicia found her own spot on the floor and lay down as well. Despite the uncomfortable surface she was lying on, her exhaustion from the day's events won out, and she soon drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

 _I should apologise to Evan._

The thought popped into Giorgio's head out of nowhere.

It was the middle of the night and his companions were all fast asleep, but Giorgio himself was wide awake and full of nervous energy.

On one hand, he would have no problem staying awake to keep an eye out for monsters. On the other hand, he felt restless and discontented, still upset by his ongoing argument with Evan.

If he was being honest, he had to admit that Evan did have a point: He could, perhaps, have been a bit nicer to Garland, especially since the latter had just been attacked by the Dark Lord. Perhaps if he'd agreed to let Garland join them, the man wouldn't have ended up putting himself in even greater danger by running off to fight Chaos on his own.

But at the same time, another part of him insisted that his decision had been right, even if it hadn't been delivered in the most diplomatic manner.

Although Garland seemed rather useless, Giorgio found himself somewhat fond of the man anyway. He would never admit it, but Giorgio had a grudging admiration for Garland's devotion to Princess Sarah, and his willingness to put himself in harm's way for her.

Which was exactly why he had been so adamant that Garland should stay behind.

Despite his disdain towards Garland's lack of fighting abilities, Giorgio found that he cared about the man's welfare and didn't want to see him getting struck down in a futile attempt to fight the Dark Lord.

As another wave of restlessness washed over him, Giorgio was struck by a sudden desire to check on his sleeping friends.

Taking care to stay quiet and avoid waking them, he made his way across the room.

Alicia and Christy appeared to be sleeping peacefully, and Giorgio felt a pang of guilt as he remembered how the two of them had been forced to play peacekeeper for him and Evan all day.

Evan was lying curled in on himself in one corner of the room. Giorgio hesitated, torn between checking on the warrior as well and simply backing away.

As he stood there awkwardly, Evan began murmuring something, a frown tugging at his lips.

"Evan?" Giorgio cautiously approached the younger man, concern for his friend overriding his lingering uncertainty.

Evan let out a soft whimper, brow furrowing in distress. Glancing at him worriedly, Giorgio carefully took a seat beside Evan, doing his best not to wake him.

He watched the younger man for a few minutes, simultaneously wanting to reach out and comfort Evan and feeling as though he was invading the warrior's privacy just by being there.

Then Evan let out a small noise of distress, and Giorgio's indecision vanished.

Slowly, Giorgio reached for Evan, gently running his fingers through Evan's hair.

Evan stirred slightly at the sensation, but mercifully, he didn't awaken. Instead, with a soft sigh, he seemed to relax into Giorgio's comforting touch, frown softening into a contented smile.

Giorgio wasn't sure how long he sat there, gently stroking Evan's hair and watching him as he slept. Finally, reluctantly, he pulled away from Evan and returned to his post by the stairs, knowing that he would have a hard time explaining himself if Evan awakened and found Giorgio beside him.

* * *

As morning came and the party continued to climb Nightmare Tower, Christy glanced over at Evan curiously.

The warrior was frowning slightly as he absently ran a hand through his hair, looking distracted and preoccupied.

"What's wrong?" Christy asked. "Didn't sleep well?"

"No, it's not that," Evan replied with a shake of the head, dropping his hand to his side. "I just… I think I… No, it's nothing. I must have had a weird dream last night or something."

As Evan spoke, Christy thought she felt someone watching them. She turned in surprise but only saw Giorgio, who was standing some distance away and ignoring Evan entirely.

Then she looked at him more closely, realising that Giorgio seemed to be almost **deliberately** not looking in Evan's direction, his stance slightly too rigid to be natural.

Narrowing her eyes, Christy walked over to him, squinting at him suspiciously. Sensing her approach, Giorgio glanced in her direction.

For just a moment, he looked flustered and off–balance.

"What?" He snapped defensively, attempting to hide his unease.

"Nothing," Christy replied innocently, giving him a knowing smirk.

Giorgio scowled at her for a moment before turning away, but not quickly enough to prevent Christy from noticing that the tips of his ears were painfully red.

 _How very interesting…_

Christy had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly what had happened, but she said nothing, merely smiling slightly to herself instead.

* * *

Fortunately, Evan managed to shake off his dazed state and focus as the party battled their way through the upper floors.

Compared to the previous day, he and Giorgio weren't quite as antagonistic either; the open hostility between them seemed to have tapered off into an awkward silence. It was a step up, but still far from ideal.

As the party cleared out the monsters from yet another floor of the tower, Alicia found herself wondering yet again if there was a way to force Giorgio and Evan to sit down and talk to each other.

Perhaps she could suggest taking a break on this floor and slip away with Christy, leaving Giorgio and Evan alone?

Before she could voice her suggestion to Christy, the purple flames illuminating the tower abruptly flickered and went out, plunging the room into darkness.

Caught off guard, Alicia stumbled, tripping over something and crashing to the ground in an undignified heap. Biting back a curse, she slowly got to her feet, dusting herself off.

Unfortunately, it seemed that she had lost track of her companions while picking herself up from her abrupt tumble.

"Guys?" She called out uncertainly, squinting into the darkness in a futile attempt to see.

There was no response.

 _Brilliant. Now what?_

Although Alicia was fairly certain they had cleared out most, if not all, of the monsters roaming this floor, she didn't want to take her chances and risk running into one by herself, especially since she was more used to serving as the team medic rather than an attacker.

Cautiously, she began to feel her way along the walls of the room, listening intently for any sign that her friends, or possibly more hostile beings, were nearby.

After a few minutes, her ears pricked up at the sound of a familiar voice speaking quietly from somewhere nearby.

"…wanted to speak to you," Giorgio was saying in a soft, hesitant voice.

"Giorgio, I…" Evan sounded uncharacteristically nervous, with an undertone of regret colouring his words.

Alicia went very still, wondering whether she should back away before either man realised she was there. However, she decided to stay where she was for fear of accidentally bumping into something else, which would certainly alert them to her presence and interrupt their conversation entirely.

She felt a slight pang of guilt at inadvertently eavesdropping on a private conversation, but it wasn't enough to override her concern about Giorgio and Evan… or her burning curiosity.

"Look, I… I wanted to apologise. I've had some time to think, and… I admit, you were right that I should have been a bit nicer to Garland. Regardless of how I feel about him, I shouldn't have been so harsh when dealing with him."

"Giorgio…" Evan sounded surprised, as though he hadn't been expecting that.

"That said…" Giorgio interjected, his voice growing louder and losing its gentle tone. "I still stand by my original decision about not letting Garland fight alongside us."

"But…" Evan began to protest.

"Wait. Let me finish," Giorgio said in a firm but calm voice.

Almost unconsciously, Alicia leaned in closer, curiosity overriding her lingering reservations about eavesdropping.

"I acknowledge that I should have phrased it more diplomatically, but I was right when I said that Garland is not suited to be a fighter. That said… I find it rather admirable that he's willing to fight anyway for Princess Sarah's sake, even though he knows it's a futile endeavour." Giorgio paused, taking a deep breath.

"It's… surprisingly refreshing, to find someone who cares so deeply about another person that he's willing to go to any lengths to help her. Garland may be foolishly noble, but I must confess that I'm somewhat impressed by his spirit."

"Then why…?" Evan spoke up at that moment, sounding confused.

"Because I care about him enough to not want to let him throw away his life for no reason," Giorgio retorted, a hint of agitation slipping into his voice.

There was a stunned silence.

After a few moments, Giorgio spoke up again, sounding calmer.

"Garland doesn't stand a chance against the Dark Lord. If he confronts the Dark Lord and gets struck down as a result, Princess Sarah would be devastated… And, if I'm being honest, I would find that outcome rather unpalatable as well."

Evan remained silent, and Alicia found herself wishing the room was slightly brighter so she could make out his expression.

"The Dark Lord does need to be defeated so that Princess Sarah's face can be saved… But there's no reason for Garland to put himself in harm's way to do so. Although we're not as strong as we might want to be before confronting Chaos, we still stand a much better chance against him than Garland does. It would have been better for Garland to hang back and let us handle this instead of needlessly endangering himself."

Silence descended once more.

"…I see," Evan finally responded, sounding apologetic. "Giorgio, I… I'm sorry too. I didn't realise you felt like that. I thought you were being brutally honest to Garland because you disliked him, but now I understand… It wasn't the nicest way to phrase it, but you meant well. You were just trying to look out for him, in your own way. I'm sorry I assumed you were just being cruel for the sake of it."

"Evan…" Giorgio breathed, sounding like he was about to start crying in relief.

"Forgive me?" Evan asked softly.

"Of course," Giorgio answered without missing a beat. "I… So, are we good?"

"Definitely," Evan replied firmly. "That… We were both being idiots. Let's not do that again. Agreed?"

"Yeah. I think Alicia and Christy will probably appreciate that too," Giorgio commented dryly.

Evan's amused laughter echoed through the air.

"I guess we were kinda making things difficult for them, weren't we?" He remarked sheepishly. "Although…"

There was a moment's pause, and when Evan next spoke, there was an oddly tender tone to his voice.

"You said you found the depths of Garland's concern for Princess Sarah refreshing. But… I don't think Garland is the only person who could care so deeply for someone he loved that he'd be willing to lay down his life for them. I can think of at least one person who, just like Garland, was reluctant to fight at first, but began putting his life on the line because he wanted to protect others, even though he didn't think he was strong enough to do so. Maybe, that person has someone who admires him for that… Someone who cares about him, and someone who, perhaps, he might be starting to care about as well…?"

In the silence of the room, Alicia heard Giorgio's breath hitch.

"Evan, I…" His words came in a whisper that was barely audible, yet seemed to echo through the darkness.

Suddenly, an explosion of fire lit up the room.

Flinching away from the sudden burst of light, Alicia hurriedly scrambled backwards, hoping Giorgio and Evan wouldn't see her and realise that she'd overheard their (definitely incredibly private) conversation.

As she did so, she caught sight of the chef and the warrior hastily pulling away from each other, looking startled and flustered.

"Whoops! Sorry!" The intense light died down slightly to reveal Christy standing nearby, looking somewhat embarrassed as a small fireball floated just above the palm of her left hand.

"I was trying to conjure a fireball to serve as a light source, but I guess I put a bit too much power into my spell," she explained with a sheepish laugh. "Are you guys alright? I didn't accidentally set anyone on fire, did I?"

"N–No, we're fine," Giorgio quickly replied, a tinge of red colouring his cheeks.

Christy paused, glancing at Giorgio and Evan more closely. "Are you sure? You guys look a bit flushed."

"It's nothing!" "We're fine!"

Upon hearing their slightly flustered, almost simultaneous responses, Christy raised an eyebrow. Before she could probe any further, they glanced at each other and immediately turned away, blushing slightly.

"What was that about?" She asked Alicia, looking puzzled and bemused.

"You know, you're a real moment killer," Alicia murmured, glancing significantly at Giorgio and Evan. "You couldn't have waited two more minutes?"

Christy's eyes widened in realisation.

"Whoops. Sorry about that," she replied sheepishly, looking chagrined.

"Anyway…" Evan sounded almost like his usual self, but Alicia could hear a hint of mortification in his voice. "We should probably get moving. We still need to rescue Princess Sarah's face… And find Garland as well, if he's somewhere in here."

"Yes, I concur," Giorgio replied with a firm nod.

The chef's voice sounded much calmer, but his lingering blush spoke volumes.

"We haven't run into Garland yet on our way up the tower, so I'm guessing he's still ahead of us. He might be near the top by now, or perhaps even on the top floor. We should probably hurry before he gets into real trouble."

"Alright, then let's go." Evan held Giorgio's gaze for a long moment before nodding resolutely, hefting his sword and readying himself to do battle.

"Once we're out of here, we'll lock them up in an inn room together," Christy quietly suggested to Alicia, a wicked smile tugging at her lips.

"I'll help you barricade the door," Alicia agreed with an impish laugh.

Glancing conspiratorially at each other, the two women hurried to catch up with their would–be matchmaking targets before they noticed anything was amiss.

* * *

The rest of the climb up the tower was much smoother than it had been before despite the slight bashfulness colouring Giorgio and Evan's interactions with each other. Fortunately, it was nowhere near as disruptive as their previous antagonistic behaviour had been.

Secretly, Alicia and Christy found it both sweet and amusing, though they were careful to avoid mentioning that to either man to avoid unnecessarily flustering them and preventing them from focusing properly on the task at hand.

It didn't take much longer before they reached the top floor of the tower.

Fortunately, Chaos was nowhere in sight.

Unfortunately, Garland was there and appeared to be fighting an incredibly one–sided battle against a giant pink gorilla wearing chainmail armour and bearing Princess Sarah's face.

Garland ineffectively swung a flimsy stick at the gorilla, only for his makeshift weapon to break as it collided harmlessly with the gorilla's armour.

Quick as lightning, the giant ape lashed out with a powerful fist, sending Garland crashing to the ground.

"Come on!" Giorgio shouted.

With a few quick steps, he dived in front of the unconscious man before the gorilla could take another swing at him. The rest of the party swiftly followed suit, readying their weapons as they prepared to defend Garland and battle the gorilla.

Naturally, the gorilla was incredibly strong, dealing powerful hits to the party that left Alicia scrambling to constantly heal them. To make things worse, it had extremely quick reflexes as well despite its massive size.

And with Garland's unconscious body lying nearby, the party had the added challenge of keeping between him and the gorilla to ensure that the giant ape wouldn't have a chance to finish him off.

At length, the party finally managed to gain an edge in their battle and landed a killing blow on the gorilla.

As the giant ape collapsed lifelessly, Princess Sarah's face was freed from its prison, flying back in the direction of Greenhorne Castle.

"Phew…" Alicia sighed in relief, shaking slightly as the adrenaline faded and her exhaustion from constantly casting healing spells caught up with her.

"Is he alright?" Christy glanced worriedly at Garland, who was still out cold.

Brow furrowing in concern, Giorgio turned to check on him, only to be interrupted as a sudden swirl of shadows heralded the appearance of the Dark Lord.

"You…" He hissed angrily. "To think you actually defeated one of my faithful generals… This isn't over. You'll pay dearly for this insolence."

Before anyone could react, Chaos fled via the tower window, heading eastwards in the direction of Neksdor.

From his position on the ground, Garland slowly began to stir.

"Urgh… My head…" Garland let out a soft hiss as his eyes slowly blinked open. "What… Where…?"

"Don't try to move," Giorgio said quietly, observing his disoriented state with concern. "Alicia, can you…?"

Kneeling beside Garland, the cleric nodded. "I've still got enough strength left for this, but I'm definitely going to need some proper rest tonight."

As Alicia quickly cast a healing spell on him, Garland sighed in relief, clarity replacing the confusion in his expression.

"Thank you… That was…" He looked away, seeming ashamed and disheartened. "I should have listened to you… If you hadn't arrived to save me, I'd be…"

Giorgio hesitated, then quietly took a seat beside Garland, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It was certainly stupid of you…" He agreed flatly.

Garland winced at Giorgio's response but said nothing.

"But… Not many people would be willing to do what you did," Giorgio continued, his tone sounding almost gentle. "You were ready to fight for Princess Sarah even though you knew you'd get hurt. It's not the most sensible thing you could have done, but it was brave of you anyway."

Garland let out a huff of laughter. "I'm surprised to hear that from you, of all people."

"Don't get me wrong, I still think your actions were rash and illogical," Giorgio replied dryly. "But… I must admit that I admire your spirit, even though you lack the necessary skills to actually achieve anything practical. Just… Don't do that again, alright? I'm sure Princess Sarah would be heartbroken if something happened to you."

Garland was silent for a long moment.

"…Thank you," he finally answered. "It… That's kind of you to say. But… You're right. I may have been intending to protect Sarah, but I fear my actions have only served to worry her further."

"At least we managed to rescue her face," Evan spoke up at that moment. "We should probably hurry back to Greenhorne Castle to check on her."

"I don't suppose… You'd be willing to let me come along?" Garland asked hesitantly.

"Don't be ridiculous," Giorgio responded, giving him a pointed look. "If we leave you to your own devices, you'll probably end up getting into more trouble again. Of course you're coming with us. Can you stand?"

Garland blinked at him in surprise before nodding gratefully.

"Yes, I… My wounds are much better than they were earlier." He turned to look at Alicia, giving her a slight bow. "Thank you for your help, Miss. My apologies for troubling you."

In response, Alicia let out a soft laugh. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're alright."

"In that case, there's no time to lose. Let's get going," Giorgio said firmly.

With hurried steps, the party began their descent of Nightmare Tower with Garland in tow.

* * *

"Hey, Garland… Can I ask you something?" Evan glanced curiously at the man in question.

"By all means," Garland answered. "What is it?"

"What exactly is the deal between you and the Princess? You two clearly like each other, and it seems like there's some history between you."

"Evan!" Giorgio hissed disapprovingly as Garland's face reddened.

"What? Oh come on, we were all thinking it," Evan protested.

"No… It's alright," Garland interjected, still looking somewhat mortified. "I… I suppose I do owe you an explanation of sorts, especially since you've been running around trying to help me and Sarah this whole time."

"Sarah and I… we were childhood friends. I'm actually the son of a minor noble, so I spent a lot of time around Greenhorne Castle while growing up. But… Some years ago, a series of unfortunate events occurred, and…" Garland swallowed, his eyes distant and unfocused.

"To make a long story short, my family… we ended up losing our wealth. I'm technically still a noble, but it's just an empty title now, and practically worthless. Because of my degraded status, I'm technically not supposed to be hanging around the castle anymore… But… Sarah, she…" He blushed slightly.

"Well, she said she didn't want to lose me as a friend. I was a bit worried at first, but… After a while, I became rather skilled at sneaking in and out of her room without the King finding out."

"Is that so?" Christy raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

"Th–That's not what I… Not like **that**!" Garland stammered, blushing even more fiercely than before. "We just spend time together hanging out and talking."

"Ah, yes. I assume you were 'talking' that other time when we came to inform the Princess about Prince Vox's arrival?" Alicia commented with an impish smirk.

"That's… I mean… Well, **most** of the time we're just talking… But we haven't done anything inappropriate or untoward like… **that** …!"

Taking some pity on Garland, Giorgio decided to step in. "Alright, knock it off and leave him alone. How about we talk about something else **other** than Garland's love life?"

"Alright, in that case…" Alicia eyed Giorgio mischievously. "Speaking of love lives, when are you and Evan—"

"Forget it!" Giorgio interrupted before she could finish her sentence. "Can we **please** quit chattering and just focus on getting back to Greenhorne Castle?"

"Whatever you say, Giorgio," Christy replied smoothly, making no attempt to hide the amused gleam in her eyes.

Even as Garland's embarrassment faded, Giorgio was blushing slightly all the way back to the castle.

* * *

Upon reaching Greenhorne Castle, the party immediately headed for Princess Sarah's room, where both the King as well as the restored Princess where waiting.

As soon as Sarah caught sight of them, her face lit up.

"Oh, thank you! I'm so glad to be back to normal!" She exclaimed, looking thoroughly relieved.

As Garland entered the room as well, he locked eyes with Sarah. Both Princess and noble blushed slightly, glancing at each other shyly.

"Adventurers, my sincerest thanks for saving my daughter," the King spoke up at that moment, apparently not noticing what Sarah and Garland were up to. "In light of your efforts, I'd like to reward you for everything you've done."

After rewarding the party with a rather impressive amount of gold, King Cornelius turned to look at Garland.

"As for you…"

The noble hurriedly tore his gaze away from Sarah and straightened up, looking somewhat nervous.

"I must admit, I'm impressed, despite my earlier reservations about you," The King told Garland.

Garland lowered his eyes deferentially. "Truly, Your Majesty, I didn't do very much. It was these adventurers who saved the Princess."

"That may be true, but it's also true that you rushed off and tried to save my daughter after she was attacked. That was certainly a selfless act, and one that shows how much you care about Sarah," King Cornelius responded.

"Perhaps I was wrong about you. Regardless of your status, it's clear that you have a noble spirit. As such…" The monarch seemed to hesitate for a moment, as though contemplating his next words.

"I still have some reservations about this, but… I've decided to allow your relationship with my daughter."

Garland's eyes widened in surprise. "Your… Your Majesty, I…"

Swallowing, he looked across the room at the Princess. Sarah's eyes were shining as she gazed at Garland joyfully, a wide smile on her face.

With a few quick steps, the Princess and the noble approached each other, meeting in the middle of the room. Sarah flung her arms around Garland, planting a kiss on his cheek as Garland hugged her back, tears of relief beginning to well up in his eyes.

King Cornelius had a small smile on his face as he watched them, and there were a couple of "Awws" from the watching party members as well.

Almost unconsciously, Giorgio found himself glancing at Evan. The warrior winked at him as if to say "I told you so", a teasing grin tugging at his lips.

Despite feeling slightly exasperated, Giorgio couldn't help smiling back at Evan. In spite of his earlier pessimism about Garland's prospects, Giorgio was glad to be proven wrong. He was happy that Garland and Sarah had gotten their fairytale ending after all, against all odds.

At that moment, the King turned to address the party.

"I'm sure you're going to be busy chasing after that Dark Lord now. In the meantime, we'll be plenty busy here as well. For starters, we'll need to find where that coward Prince Vox has gone and officially dissolve his engagement to my daughter. Farewell for now, and good luck!"

With a final glance at Sarah and Garland, who appeared to be oblivious to their surroundings, the party took their leave of Greenhorne Castle.


	7. Let the Lessons Begin

**Surprise: I'm not dead! Seriously though, my apologies for the lengthy delays on everything. Let's just say that things have been quite hectic for the last several months. I'm hopefully back for the forseeable future, though you'll *still* have to wait for the next Temporal Fates chapter because I'm *still* trying to work through my block there (Yes, I know. Sorry about that).**

* * *

It didn't take long for the party to reach an inn near the outskirts of the Arid Frontier, by the border leading to the nearby land of Neksdor.

"So, I guess we're going after Chaos tomorrow?" Christy asked.

Giorgio nodded, glancing at his friends. "It's been a long day; we'll rest here tonight and set out again in the morning."

"No need to tell me twice," Alicia replied, sounding both amused and exhausted. "I think I'll turn in early. See you guys tomorrow."

As she turned and made her way up the stairs, stumbling slightly, her friends decided to follow suit and settle into their rooms so that they could unwind.

* * *

After settling in and cleaning himself up, Giorgio decided to wander around for a while. It was still late afternoon, after all; far too early for him to go to bed, unlike poor Alicia, who was currently sleeping off her magical exhaustion.

 _I wonder where Evan is?_

He hadn't seen the younger man since they arrived at the inn. Evan had dumped his stuff in the room he was sharing with Giorgio and promptly run off, still brimming with energy despite the day's events.

As soon as he wandered outside, he had his answer.

Evan was sitting on the grass outside the inn, whistling cheerfully as he polished his sword.

Upon hearing Giorgio approach, he glanced up with a huge grin.

"Hey, Giorgio! Come to join me?"

"Aren't you tired?" Giorgio asked curiously, taking a seat beside the warrior.

Evan shrugged, setting his sword down. "I've had enough of being cooped up indoors for a while. The weather's pretty nice today, so I figured I'd sit out here and do some maintenance on my sword. Gotta make sure it's nice and sharp so I can fight well tomorrow!"

Giorgio bit his lip, looking away. Truth be told, he was trying not to think about that; although they'd done fairly well against Chaos and his army of monsters so far, the thought of actually confronting the Dark Lord himself filled Giorgio with an overwhelming sense of dread.

Seeing Giorgio's expression darken, Evan placed his hand on top of Giorgio's, giving him a soft smile.

"Hey, don't worry. No matter what happens tomorrow, the four of us can handle it together."

Wishing he had Evan's sense of optimism, Giorgio nodded, doing his best to shove aside his doubts and worries.

They sat in silence for a while before Giorgio decided to change the subject.

"You know… I don't think I ever really asked you where you came from," he commented. "You said something about leaving home in search of adventure?"

Withdrawing his hand, Evan retrieved his sword, beginning to work on it again as he spoke.

"There's not much to tell, really," he said. "I'm from a peaceful village far away from here. You probably won't find it on any maps; it's too small and insignificant for that. My mother died when I was young, so my father raised me by himself. Father was a blacksmith, and it was pretty much expected that I'd follow in his footsteps when I came of age. As soon as I was old enough, I started helping out around the forge."

"Let me guess… You didn't enjoy it?" Giorgio raised an eyebrow at him.

Evan threw his head back and laughed.

"Can you imagine me working as a blacksmith? I wanted to do something more exciting than that. So I started teaching myself to fight, using some of the swords Father had made. I was terrible at it at first, of course; I had no idea what I was doing, so I was basically figuring things out through trial and error. Wound up with plenty of bruises and even a couple of cuts. But the more I practiced, the better I became."

"Of course, Father eventually caught me. Let's just say he wasn't exactly pleased. I got chewed out for messing around with the swords instead of focusing on my work. Then he forbade me from touching them again. We had a pretty big argument after that; Father was adamant that I would take over the forge one day, and he didn't want me wasting my time on what he deemed to be childish nonsense."

"I was angry, of course. I wanted to leave home and see the world… to have adventures, visit new places and meet new people. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life languishing in a town in the middle of nowhere."

"Despite this, I couldn't bring myself to just sneak off and leave home without permission. I still loved my father, after all, and I knew that doing so would break his heart. So I stayed, and I tried to do what Father wanted of me. But with each passing day, I grew more and more restless."

"After a few months of this, Father finally spoke to me. He said that while he'd wanted me to follow in his footsteps and become a blacksmith, he could see that my heart wasn't in it. Realising that I would be unhappy living a quiet life, he agreed to let me leave and follow my own path instead."

"So a few days later, I left home with Father's blessing and set out in search of adventure. And here we are now," Evan concluded with a laugh.

"Do you miss him?" Giorgio asked curiously.

"Not as much as I probably should," Evan admitted. "Don't get me wrong: I love my father, but we're very different people at heart. I don't miss the village itself, of course; it probably hasn't changed one bit since I left."

"You haven't gone back for a visit then?" Giorgio asked.

Evan shook his head. "I write letters to Father from time to time, telling him what I've been up to and letting him know I haven't been eaten by monsters yet. But there's still so much to see and do; I don't want to waste time travelling all the way back home yet. Maybe when we're done fighting Chaos, I might pay him a visit."

Giorgio simply nodded, unsure of what else to say.

It occurred to him that usually, in a conversation like this, one would be expected to venture information about himself in return. But the thought of dredging up memories of his past and trying to speak about them sent a tendril of dread creeping up his spine.

As though he'd sensed Giorgio's nervousness, Evan set his sword back down, looking Giorgio in the eye.

"Listen, Giorgio… You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, alright?"

Giorgio blinked in surprise. "What's that supposed to mean?"

In response, Evan fixed him with a pointed look.

"I'm not blind, Giorgio. I know you don't really like talking about yourself and your past. I'm not going to pry; if you want to talk about it, I'll be happy to listen, but you don't have to force yourself to talk if you're uncomfortable."

Swallowing, Giorgio nodded gratefully.

Perhaps someday, he would gather up the courage to confront his memories and speak about them to his friends.

But for now, he wasn't ready to think about them yet.

Glancing over at Evan's discarded sword, Giorgio recalled the conversation he'd had with his parents back when he'd first gained the power to fight monsters.

Specifically, his mother's dry remark about him not knowing how to use a sword.

Certainly, he was capable of holding his own in a fight. But swinging a frying pan around was hardly as complex as swordfighting; he'd been mostly relying on strength, momentum, and a good sense of when to dodge.

"Could you teach me?" He found himself saying.

"Hmm?" Evan glanced at him curiously. "Teach you what?"

"I don't know much about fighting with a sword, but… I mean…" Giorgio flushed slightly. "If it isn't too much trouble…"

Far from being annoyed, Evan looked both surprised and delighted.

"Really? I'd love to!" He exclaimed, grinning widely. "Hold on a minute, I'll be right back…"

Before Giorgio could say anything, Evan picked up his sword and disappeared through the inn's front doors.

Within moments, he reappeared, carrying two smaller swords instead.

"Here, take this." Flipping over one of the swords, he offered it to Giorgio hilt first. "My old swords; I keep them around as backup weapons, just in case."

Giorgio took it from him, examining it curiously. Unlike the sword Evan usually used, this sword was both lighter and less impressive in appearance.

"Probably wouldn't be a good idea to start you off with my regular sword unless you want to be cut to ribbons," Evan explained with a smirk.

"These swords are kinda dull and blunt; not something you'd really want to use for monster fighting, but good enough for practice."

Hefting his own sword, Evan flashed Giorgio a taunting grin.

"Now, come on. Let's get started."

* * *

Evan proved to be a surprisingly good teacher, and Giorgio was able to grasp the basics quickly enough.

Of course, as the warrior pointed out, knowing the right stances and slicing manoeuvres would count for nothing if he wasn't able to apply them in a fight.

"Are you sure about this?" Giorgio looked at Evan uncertainly, adjusting his grip on his sword.

"Relax, Giorgio," Evan said with a laugh. "I promise I'll go easy on you."

Giorgio scoffed. "That wasn't what I meant. What if I accidentally take your head off?"

"I'll make sure I duck before that happens," Evan replied dryly.

Seeing that Giorgio still looked a bit nervous, Evan gave him a reassuring smile.

"Come on, Giorgio, have some faith in yourself," he teased. "You're not going to hurt me. I trust you, alright?"

"…Alright." Taking a deep breath, Giorgio shifted his stance, watching Evan carefully…

Then he swung at Evan, just as the latter brought his own sword up to block the blow.

Of course, being a beginner, Giorgio was vastly outmatched by Evan, even with the latter going easy on him.

Evan's movements were dexterous and graceful, blade flashing through the air like a deadly dance as he parried Giorgio's attacks with ease.

In contrast, Giorgio's footwork was clumsier and lacking in finesse. More often than not, he found himself on the defensive and desperately trying to regain his footing.

As they continued to spar, Evan offered suggestions and advice, helping Giorgio to correct his form and slowly improve.

Nonetheless, when Evan suggested taking a breather after disarming Giorgio for what felt like the 500th time, the older man was greatly relieved.

"I don't think… I'll ever… get the hang of this," Giorgio commented in between gasps for air, feeling as though his lungs were on fire.

"Don't think like that, Giorgio," Evan protested, shoving him playfully.

They were lying side by side on the grass in front of the inn, gazing up at the clouds as they caught their breath.

"You're still learning, after all. And for a beginner, you're doing really well. You'll get better with practice, just like I did."

Minutes ticked by as they lay there in companionable silence, basking in each other's presence.

Finally, Evan sat up and looked at Giorgio.

"Hey, Giorgio… There's something I've been wanting to talk about."

With a sigh, Giorgio pushed himself into a sitting position as well.

"What is it?"

"It's about what happened earlier today. In Nightmare Tower."

Just like that, all the air left Giorgio's lungs.

"During that blackout on the way up… Before Christy interrupted us… What were you about to say?"

"I… don't remember," Giorgio lied. "Whatever it was, it's slipped my mind now, considering everything else that's happened today."

"Are you sure?" Evan fixed him with a serious look. "Giorgio… I know you're not blind. You know what I'm talking about, don't you? This attraction between us… I know you've felt it too."

Evan's gaze seemed to bore into Giorgio, and he couldn't bring himself to look away. In that moment, it was as though nothing else existed besides him and Evan as he met Evan's pale blue eyes with an unwavering gaze of his own.

The subtle electric thrill that filled his veins whenever he looked at Evan was now a palpable magnetic current that seemed to draw them to each other, so strong that he could almost taste it on the tip of his tongue.

There was barely any distance between them now. It would barely take a moment's thought for Giorgio to lean over and capture Evan's lips with his own. Almost unconsciously, he found himself shifting closer to Evan…

… _What the heck am I doing?!_

A sudden surge of panic burned through him in a scalding rush of clarity. In an instant, Giorgio jerked away from Evan as though he'd been stung.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about," he blurted out, scrambling to his feet as fast as he could.

"Giorgio…" Evan reached for the older man, looking shocked and hurt at his reaction.

Despite the pang of guilt that shot through him, Giorgio continued to back away, not looking at his friend.

"I'm more tired than I thought… Think I'll turn in early after all."

As Giorgio fled indoors, he heard Evan call his name again, but he didn't stop running until he was back in the safety of his inn room.

Finally alone, Giorgio sat motionless on the edge of his bed, holding his head in his hands. Guilt and self–loathing churned within him, crashing against a veritable mix of confusion, fear, panic, embarrassment…

He wasn't sure how long he sat there in a daze before a modicum of sense finally returned to him.

Even as a part of him knew he needed to apologise to Evan, Giorgio knew that he wasn't ready to face his friend yet.

Instead, with his emotions still in turmoil, he crawled into bed and slipped under the covers, drifting off into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

 **A bit on the short side, I know. But Chapter 8 is already written and Chapter 9 is being worked on, so look forward to that in a few days' time (hopefully!)**


	8. Back to Square One

**I should probably dig out my 3DS and charge it so I can continue playing Miitopia, since I've almost caught up to where I stopped in the game. Gonna need to progress a bit further before I start writing the next story arc :P**

* * *

It was dark when Giorgio awoke from a half–remembered dream, still in a mental fog and not entirely awake.

Confused as to what had woken him, it took a few moments for him to realise that he was alone in the room.

Frowning, Giorgio slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes tiredly, wondering what time it was and where Evan had gone.

Perhaps he'd simply left the room to get some fresh air. The door closing behind him as he headed outside must have woken Giorgio from his sleep.

In the darkness of the night, his emotions seemed to have settled into an equilibrium of sorts. While earlier, he had been wholly driven by irrational, visceral panic, an unnatural calm now draped itself over Giorgio, as though he was watching from somewhere outside of his body.

Now that he was awake, he wasn't quite in the mood to go back to sleep.

He could follow Evan outside, he supposed. After what had happened earlier, he owed Evan an explanation, or at least an apology.

But perhaps, now that he was in a calmer frame of mind, it would be prudent to sort out his own conflicted thoughts first before speaking to Evan.

He cared about Evan, certainly. Indeed, though he was too embarrassed to admit it out loud, he could no longer deny to himself that he cared about all of his friends. But Evan meant something special to him, even more so than Alicia and Christy.

And despite his instinctive, panicked reaction earlier, he couldn't deny that Evan was right: He had found himself becoming increasingly drawn to Evan as more than just a friend.

Nonetheless, the reality was that he and Evan didn't know each other that well yet. Though he considered Evan a friend, it was simply too soon for them to become romantically involved.

If things went bad between them, their blossoming friendship would be irrevocably changed, perhaps even destroyed, simply because they'd rushed into things without proper consideration.

Giorgio couldn't bear the thought of losing Evan like that.

And besides, even if he and Evan **did** take things slowly, there was still the underlying issue of Giorgio himself.

Despite his many shortcomings, Giorgio wasn't devoid of self–awareness. He knew fully well that at present, he still possessed a great deal of emotional baggage that he needed to sort out.

It wouldn't be fair for him to enter a relationship with Evan while he was still such a mess. Evan deserved better than to be dragged into the minefield of personal issues that Giorgio was barely handling right now.

Until he was able to sort himself out somewhat, he had no right to even consider becoming involved with Evan.

Nonetheless, running away from Evan as he had done earlier was unforgivably rude and entirely uncalled for. While he had valid, legitimate reasons for not wanting to be with Evan right now, his reaction had stemmed entirely from fear rather than logic.

Evan deserved better than that.

Getting to his feet, Giorgio quietly slipped out of the room, letting the door swing shut behind him.

It was high time he had a talk with Evan.

* * *

It didn't take long for Giorgio to locate Evan. Just like earlier, he was sitting on the grass outside the inn, carefully tending to his sword.

Giorgio approached him cautiously, mentally reviewing what he wanted to say to Evan as he did so.

Sensing his approach, Evan glanced up at him.

Bathed in the pale glow of moonlight, the younger man seemed to possess an almost ethereal radiance, eyes sparkling with delight as he spotted Giorgio.

Taking a deep breath, the chef opened his mouth to speak.

Then Evan flashed him a brilliant smile, and all rational thought left him in an instant.

"I was hoping you'd join me," Evan said, and his voice seemed to flow as smoothly as silk and honey, echoing musically through the silent night air.

With a flick of his wrist, he tossed something at Giorgio, who caught it without thinking.

Glancing down, he realised he was now holding the sword he'd been using earlier while sparring with Evan.

"Up for Round 2?" Evan raised an eyebrow at him, the barest hint of a smirk tugging at his lips.

Giorgio's lips parted in a savage grin as he met Evan's challenging gaze, eyes alight with anticipation.

His blade flashed through the air just as Evan swung at him, metal clashing against metal in a flurry of sparks.

It was nothing like his earlier spar with Evan, clumsy and awkward and one–sided. Giorgio moved faster than he'd thought himself capable of, his sword seeming to take on a life of its own as he swung and blocked and evaded with moves he hadn't even realised he knew.

If anything, it felt more like a waltz than a fight, both of them perfectly in sync as they weaved a deadly dance across the field faster than the human eye could see.

He wasn't sure how long they'd been at it before they finally reached a stalemate, swords locked against each other and neither yielding in the slightest.

They were so close now that he could almost feel Evan's breath ghosting across his cheek, pulse racing from both the thrill of the fight as well as their proximity to each other.

Giorgio licked his lips nervously, wanting to memorise every last inch of Evan's features as they gazed at each other, neither of them willing to be the first to break eye contact.

Then Evan graced him with that dazzling smile again and in one smooth move, as though that had been his intention all along, Giorgio leaned forward and captured Evan's lips, kissing him eagerly…

 _What the fuck?!_

He choked and gagged and tried to pull away as the jarring taste of ashes and decay and **death** filled his throat, like a viscous smoke so thick that he could barely breathe through the acrid stench.

Evan's face began to warp and distort as he cackled insanely while Giorgio desperately wrenched himself free, coughing madly as he tried to catch his breath.

"What… What is this…?" Giorgio stumbled backwards a step, looking around in a frenzied panic.

The inn was gone now, vanished without a trace. All that remained was him and the Evan who wasn't really Evan, standing in an endless field of grass.

Evan's features twisted further as he sneered at Giorgio. Within moments, a thick cloud of smoke and shadows coalesced where he'd been standing, solidifying into a terrifyingly familiar figure.

"My, my. Isn't this delightful? It seems our 'Hero' has a soft spot for his dear companion!" The Dark Lord's lips curled into a mocking smirk. "Looks like I'll have to pay extra attention when I take care of him!"

"What have you done to Evan?!" Giorgio shouted, angrily brandishing his sword.

"There's no need for you to worry." Chaos shook his head, practically oozing mock sympathy. "After all, you're already too late."

"No… No, you're wrong, I can still–"

The sword in his hands disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving him utterly defenceless.

 _This isn't real… This can't be real…_

"Any last words?" Chaos loomed over him, tendrils of darkness reaching for Giorgio as he spoke.

 _I'm still dreaming… Wake up… Wake up wake up WAKE UP…_

With a desperate shout, he shoved himself sideways against the edges of his surroundings, and suddenly he was falling into nothingness as the world shattered around him…

A pained gasp escaped him as he collided hard with something solid beneath him, knocking the wind out of him.

It took several long, terrifying moments for Giorgio to realise that he was lying half–sprawled on the floor beside his bed in the inn, still hopelessly tangled up in his sheets.

After a few more moments, he realised he was actually awake this time, having fallen out of bed while thrashing about in the throes of his nightmare.

Frantically freeing himself with shaking hands, Giorgio instinctively glanced over at Evan's bed, needing to see that he was alright.

The bed was empty.

It was then that Giorgio began to register the actual state of his surroundings.

A fierce storm was raging outside, lightning crackling angrily across the sky as thunder rumbled ominously in its wake.

Meanwhile, a chorus of angry yelling and panicked shouting echoed through the building, as though a furious mob had descended upon the inn.

As for his room…

Giorgio's eyes widened in shock as he took in the chaotic mess surrounding him. It looked as though the room had been ripped apart by a hurricane. Broken furniture littered the ground, and his belongings were scattered all over, as though they'd been strewn about carelessly while he was asleep. Most of them seemed badly damaged or even broken, and it looked as though there was almost nothing salvageable amongst the wreckage.

"E–Evan?" He called out uncertainly, voice cracking as he spoke.

There was no reply.

With a sick feeling in his stomach, Giorgio stumbled over to the door and wrenched it open.

"Alicia? Christy?" He pushed open their room door, doing his best to swallow his panic. "Guys, this isn't funny…!"

His breath caught in his throat as he registered the empty, destroyed room before his eyes. Whatever force was responsible for trashing his own room had apparently done the same to Alicia and Christy's room as well.

 _What the hell happened?!_

Searching through the wreckage of Alicia and Christy's belongings yielded no answers. With his heart pounding wildly, Giorgio raced down the stairs towards the commotion coming from elsewhere in the inn, nearly tripping in his haste.

The inn's lobby was packed to the brim with angry people who were shouting over each other, looking frightened and panicked. As he frantically scanned the lobby, Giorgio absently noted that they were probably fellow travellers who had been staying in the inn as well.

To his dismay, he couldn't see his friends anywhere amongst the crowd.

Steeling himself, Giorgio approached a lone traveller standing nearby, hoping to get some answers.

"Excuse me, do… do you know what happened?"

The man glanced at him, scowling, though his anger didn't seem to be directed at Giorgio.

"What happened? That damn Dark Lord happened, that's what!"

"What?!" Giorgio's eyes widened.

"You heard me! Middle of the night when everyone's trying to sleep, and that maniac decides it's the perfect time to attack us. In an inn, no less! Tore up the place and snatched away a couple of people before leaving. What's the world coming to if even inns aren't safe anymore?"

 _Snatched away…? No…!_

Tuning out the rest of the man's rant, Giorgio backed away, mind racing as he bolted upstairs to his room.

 _This can't be happening… How could I have slept through the entire attack?!_

Panic temporarily overridden by his anger at himself, Giorgio began digging through the wreckage of his belongings as quickly as he could.

 _Maybe they haven't gotten too far… Maybe I can still catch up to them…_

He flinched backwards as something was yanked free from the debris, crashing to the floor with a clattering clang.

It was his weapon. Or, at least, it had been.

His frying pan, dented and crushed, its handle bent at an unnatural angle.

There was no way he could wield it in a fight.

He tried anyway.

As expected, it was awkward and cumbersome and entirely unusable as a weapon.

What **wasn't** expected was how clumsy he felt with it; not just because of its state, but almost as though he were new to fighting all over again.

His mind felt dull and clouded as he tried to draw on his experience… to remember how it felt to **fight** …

Memories slipped away from him like a handful of sand.

He could vaguely remember that he'd fought and learned and grown stronger, but the specifics of whatever knowledge and fighting techniques he'd gained over the course of his battles were lost to him.

 _What's going on?_

Giorgio pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to concentrate, but it was no use. His mind simply refused to focus properly.

 _How am I supposed to do this alone, with no weapons and no memory of how to fight?_

Just then, a dull glint caught his attention.

A sword lay on the ground nearby, having been pulled free from the wreckage along with his ruined frying pan.

As Giorgio picked it up, he realised it was the training sword he'd been using while sparring with Evan earlier.

As Evan had said, it was rather dull and blunt; hardly an ideal weapon for proper fighting.

But it was still a weapon. Tarnished, but undamaged and useable. At the very least, it was better than nothing.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to organise his thoughts.

 _Alright, one thing at a time. I have a weapon now… Just need to figure out where to go… Wait a minute…_

Abruptly, he remembered the sacred charm… His link to the divine realm and his parents' spirits…

Which had been sitting on his bedside table along with his other belongings.

 _No…!_

He barely felt the rough scrapes against his skin as he scrabbled through splintered wood and broken glass, desperately searching for the missing charm.

 _Where is it… It has to be here somewhere…!_

His fingers closed around something small and smooth.

Barely–controlled hysteria melted into relief…

Only to morph right back into horror the moment he actually looked at the object he'd retrieved.

A huge, deep crack ran through the charm, nearly splitting it in two. The only sign of its former power was a faint, flickering glow that looked as though it might go out at any moment.

Giorgio gingerly closed his fingers over the charm, fearing that it would shatter entirely if he gripped it too hard.

Suddenly, a sharp burst of noise emitted from the damaged charm, causing him to jerk backwards in surprise.

 _Mother…? Father…?_

The charm's dim glow brightened slightly. As though from a great distance away, fragmented words echoed faintly in his ears, muffled further by the sound of chaos still coming from elsewhere in the inn.

"… gio… hur… ord… east…"

With a final burst of noise, his parents' voices faded away, and the charm went completely dark.

Alone in the wreckage of his room, Giorgio sank to his knees, clutching his broken charm as he finally broke down, weeping for all that he'd lost.


	9. Darkness Falls

**Yes, I know, I'm really sorry for the huge delay.**

* * *

As Giorgio fled back into the inn, Evan's first instinct was to go after him. But the memory of his friend's panicked expression paralysed him, leaving him too shocked to react until the inn doors had swung shut.

That hadn't gone the way he'd hoped.

Despite his upbeat and carefree nature, Evan wasn't a fool. Although he hadn't known Giorgio for long, he could tell that the older man had something dark and painful hidden in his past.

However, the enigmatic chef guarded his secrets as fiercely as his heart; trying to glean personal information about him was all but impossible. Evan could honestly say that he felt lucky to have caught a few glimpses of the real Giorgio despite the latter's attempts to keep everyone at arm's length.

While he did his best to put on an (admittedly unconvincing) aloof mask, Giorgio seemed almost like a frightened animal at times: Skittish, nervous, and prone to shying away whenever anyone got too close.

Knowing this, Evan had been doing his best to be patient and avoid pushing too hard in his attempts to befriend Giorgio, not wanting to scare the latter off.

Up till now, it seemed to have been working: Though Giorgio was still wary and guarded more often than not, he seemed to be tentatively opening up to Evan somewhat, albeit slowly and cautiously. Evan had even allowed himself to hope that perhaps someday, Giorgio would be ready to talk about himself and his mysterious past.

But now…

Perhaps it had been a mistake, making a move on Giorgio like that. In hindsight, considering how flustered Giorgio became whenever someone called attention to the fact that he did, in fact, have a heart, it shouldn't have been too surprising that he'd react badly to Evan expressing romantic inclinations towards him.

Yet, it had seemed like a natural progression of events, given the recent tone of their interactions. Certainly, there had been a brief moment where Giorgio had almost seemed ready to reciprocate before he'd freaked out and run off.

For the first time since they'd started travelling together, Evan found himself wondering whether he was chasing a hopeless dream with his attempts to get closer to Giorgio.

It felt like every time he made the slightest bit of progress, something would cause Giorgio to retreat again, setting them back by several steps.

Evan had always been an optimist… but even optimism had its limits.

With a fierce shake of his head, the warrior got to his feet, leaving the swords he and Giorgio had been using lying where they were.

He didn't want to think about this right now.

Returning to the inn room was out of the question. He was quite sure Giorgio didn't want to see him right now, and, if he was being honest, he wasn't ready to face Giorgio yet either.

For a brief moment, he considered heading to Alicia and Christy's room to confide in them instead. Then he remembered that Alicia was currently resting, and Christy was probably keeping an eye on her.

While his friends would certainly be sympathetic and willing to listen, he didn't particularly want to trouble them right now, especially since this was hardly an urgent issue.

And regardless of how he felt about the entire affair, they had more important things to worry about at present. Namely, their impending battle with Chaos.

Dealing with this fresh wave of tension between himself and Giorgio would have to wait until after they'd defeated the Dark Lord.

Evan just hoped that he and Giorgio would be able to put aside their personal feelings for the time being and fight at their full strength. The cold war between them during their ascent of Nightmare Tower was still fresh in his mind, and he had no desire to stage a repeat performance.

More than ever, they needed to keep their teamwork strong; not just for themselves, but for the fate of the world.

Of course, this was easier said than done.

Rationally, Evan recognised that he needed to keep a clear head for the upcoming battle.

Nonetheless, he was still brimming with hurt and frustration right now.

While he knew that there was a legitimate reason for Giorgio's behaviour, he also knew that he had a legitimate reason to feel betrayed and heartbroken by Giorgio's reaction to him.

Impulsively, he decided to go for a run.

There was something rather appealing about the idea of just forgetting everything for a while. His contradictory thoughts, his frustrations, his feelings of rejection… All of that would simply be burned away by the mindless bout of exercise he was about to embark upon.

The only thing he would need to focus on was pushing his body to its limits as he ran and ran until he'd finally had enough.

He wouldn't venture too far from the inn, of course; Evan didn't want to risk going too deep into the woods and running into a bunch of monsters by himself.

All the same, he picked up one of his swords, slotting it into the sheath on his back. It wouldn't hurt to be prepared, just in case.

Then he was off.

* * *

Night had fallen by the time Evan returned to the inn.

Thankfully, the run seemed to have done the trick; though he was somewhat exhausted, the warrior felt calmer and less upset than he had been earlier.

Perhaps it was time he had a talk with Giorgio.

Scooping up his other sword from where it had been abandoned on the grass, Evan entered the inn and made a beeline for his room.

"Giorgio?"

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkened room.

Upon realising the chef was already asleep, Evan quietly shut the door behind him, not wanting to wake his friend.

Given how late it was, he couldn't say he was surprised that Giorgio had already turned in for the night, especially since the last few days had been rather rough.

As Evan began putting away his belongings, an ominous rumbling filled the air.

Blinking in surprise, he glanced up to see rapidly gathering storm clouds beginning to form outside.

 _Strange, it didn't seem like it was going to rain earlier…_

Just then, the last ray of moonlight vanished behind the thick mass of clouds.

In the same instant, a sudden chill filled the air as the room temperature seemed to plunge to freezing levels.

 _What's going on?!_

An unpleasantly familiar swirl of shadows answered Evan's unspoken question.

"You…" Evan glared at Chaos as he materialised in the middle of the room.

"Such a hostile greeting," Chaos replied mockingly. "Didn't anyone ever teach you manners?"

"Didn't anyone ever teach **you** it's rude to terrorise others?" Evan retorted, slowly backing away from the Dark Lord.

Hurriedly scanning the room, Evan quickly considered his options.

Fighting Chaos was definitely out of the question. His usual sword was out of reach on the other side of the room, and he doubted he'd be able to hold out for long using the practice swords he had with him.

Besides, with Alicia and Christy in another room down the hall and Giorgio asleep, he'd be fighting Chaos alone, which would probably end as disastrously as one might expect.

Swearing as he narrowly avoided a blast of energy from Chaos, Evan turned his head slightly to shout at his sleeping friend.

"Giorgio, wake up! Chaos is here!"

To his surprise, the chef didn't even stir.

"Giorgio—!"

It was then that Evan saw what he'd failed to notice earlier.

Giorgio was lying unnaturally still, a deep frown etched into his face as beads of sweat gathered on his forehead. Even unconscious, he seemed to be in abject pain, yet unable to wake from whatever was plaguing him.

As Evan looked more closely, he spotted a faint, almost unnoticeable aura of purple energy enshrouding Giorgio's sleeping form.

"He's certainly a heavy sleeper, isn't he?" Chaos commented smugly.

At this, something clicked in Evan's mind.

"You… What did you do to him?!" He shouted, blood boiling with fury even as he fought the urge to take a swing at Chaos.

"Do calm down, it's nothing quite as sinister as whatever you're probably imagining," Chaos replied, looking bored.

"Your dear friend looked rather tired, so I decided to help him out. I simply used a bit of my power to ensure that he stays asleep for a while. After all, I needed him out of the way so he wouldn't interfere."

"Whatever you're planning to do to Giorgio, it won't work," Evan declared. "We'll stop you and free him for your grasp."

"To Giorgio?" Chaos cocked his head, looking bemused.

"I never said my plans were about him."

 _What?_

Before Evan could react, a shadowy tendril shot out and grabbed him, slamming him hard against the wall.

With a pained gasp, Evan desperately struggled to pry the surprisingly solid tendril off him.

His efforts proved futile as the tendril began to grow and multiply, transforming into a writhing mass of dark tendrils that began snaking upwards, wrapping themselves tightly around his throat and stealing what little air remained in his lungs.

 _Can't… breathe…_

He coughed weakly as his vision blurred, dark spots dancing at the edges of his vision.

"Sleep tight, brave warrior."

Chaos' mocking laughter filled the air as darkness finally enveloped him.

* * *

Evan winced as he gradually returned to consciousness, his battered body aching all over.

Opening his eyes, he shook his head slightly to clear it.

Looking around, he found Alicia and Christy lying unconscious nearby, though they appeared to be stirring as well.

"Ngh…" Alicia slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, pressing a hand to her head.

"Hey, you guys alright?" Evan asked worriedly.

"Aside from feeling as though I've been trampled by a horde of goblins, yeah," Alicia replied. "What happened?"

"The last thing I remember was getting attacked by Chaos," Christy answered. "He got the jump on me before I could do anything and knocked me out."

"Yeah, that happened to me as well," Evan said. "And—"

Suddenly, he realised what — or rather, who — was missing.

"Wait, where's Giorgio?"

A quick glance told him that the chef was nowhere in sight.

"He's not here… we must have gotten separated from him," Christy commented, looking worried.

"Giorgio's… He's tougher than he looks. He can take care of himself… And I'm sure he'll find us," Alicia declared.

"I hope you're right…" Evan replied, wishing he had her confidence.

While he felt quite sure that Giorgio would be able to handle himself in a fight, it was Giorgio's emotional stability that worried him.

Evan had a feeling that Giorgio would not react well to losing them; he'd probably push himself to find them at all costs, even to the point of neglecting his own well–being.

And with his friends abruptly ripped away from him, Giorgio would be alone again. Given Giorgio's general disinclination to befriend others, Evan feared that he would close himself off even more than ever, losing what little progress he'd made in opening up to others.

"Are you alright, Evan?" Christy's voice interrupted his chaotic thoughts.

"Yeah, I… I guess I'm just… Worrying about Giorgio," Evan admitted.

At that moment, he found himself remembering the way his last conversation with Giorgio had gone. Abruptly, he felt a sharp pang of regret, wishing that he and Giorgio had parted on a better note.

He wanted to apologise to Giorgio for freaking him out… To tell Giorgio he didn't hate him for his reaction… To let him know that no matter what might happen between them, he would always consider Giorgio a close friend…

"I'm worried too, but that won't help us now," Christy told Evan, looking at him sympathetically. "All we can do is try to keep our spirits up and hope that Giorgio finds us soon."

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Evan let out a sigh as Alicia placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Scanning his surroundings, Evan found that they appeared to be in a dark, empty place with no identifying features to speak of. The vast night sky stretched out endlessly above them, but neither the moon nor the stars were anywhere in sight.

As much as he hated to admit it, there was nothing they could do now but wait.

Turning his gaze upwards, Evan silently hoped that wherever Giorgio was, he still had the glittering stars to guide him through the night.


	10. Sharing A Drink They Call Loneliness

The hardest part about setting out after the Dark Lord's attack wasn't the fact that Giorgio had to travel all by himself.

Nor was it that he had to start afresh with nothing but a barely useable sword and almost no fighting skills, or that he had a broken charm and no idea where to go.

No, the hardest part about setting out was forcing himself to keep moving even as he wanted nothing more than to just break down and give up.

Despair weighed heavily on him with every step he took.

He had never asked for this. He hadn't wanted to be a hero, or to be called upon to shoulder the burden of saving others.

If he'd simply stayed in his old life, he wouldn't have had to experience the agony of getting close to other people again, only to have them ripped away from him just as his parents had been.

He desperately wished he could just stop. Turn around, walk away and leave this mad quest behind entirely. Return to staying away from people and not letting himself care.

But he had to keep going.

He needed to find his friends. To make sure they were alright.

Because he loved them, and he needed them, even as a shameful part of him hated them for abandoning him, even though he knew they obviously hadn't left him on purpose, because they wouldn't do that to him, **hadn't** done that to him…

Chaos was at fault here. It was he who had stolen Giorgio's friends away, leaving Giorgio alone again.

Yet, at the same time, Giorgio knew it was his own fault as well. He was the one who had slept through the entire attack as his friends were being captured. He'd failed to help them, and this was his punishment.

For one who had briefly tasted the sweet fruit of laughter and companionship, having all of that snatched out of his grasp and being forced to return to solitude was an agony like no other.

He had not known how to live before his friends came along, and so he hadn't realised what he'd been missing in his solitary life.

Now, he was back on the same path he had been walking before, but this time, he was fully aware of how lonely and desolate it was.

For a brief moment, Giorgio found himself thinking of Evan. Evan and his bright smile and his laughter, and the way his smile had turned into shock and hurt as Giorgio pushed him away during their last conversation…

He needed to find his friends, because he needed to see Evan again.

He needed to tell Evan how sorry he was… That he had been wrong, and that he was an idiot… That, perhaps, he might be beginning to fall in love with Evan too, and he shouldn't have pushed Evan away simply because he was frightened of his own feelings…

Giorgio took a deep, shuddering breath and forced himself to keep moving forward.

* * *

Although he had no way to ask for directions, Giorgio had decided to head east to Neksdor, as he and his friends had originally planned.

After all, the Dark Lord had been last seen heading east, so it seemed to be a good place to start.

Not to mention, one of the few words he had been able to make out from his charm before it stopped working entirely was "East".

Of course, it was entirely possible that his parents had been saying something else entirely and he'd only heard part of their words, but Giorgio had decided to take it as a sign that east was the right way to go.

It wasn't as though he had any other clues to go on. He could either head east, or he could collapse in despair and just stop moving.

East it was, then.

Aside from Evan's old sword, Giorgio hadn't been able to salvage much from the wrecked inn. At the moment, all he had with him was a few gold pieces, his borrowed sword, and his broken charm, which he'd wrapped carefully in a bundle of cloth before storing in his pouch.

Although the charm was essentially useless at the moment, Giorgio would die before he relinquished his last connection to his parents.

He clung onto the faint hope that he could get it fixed somehow, allowing him to communicate with them (and the divine realm) once more.

But even if the charm was broken beyond repair, it was all he had left.

He'd already lost everything else. No matter what, he couldn't bear to lose this as well.

Absently brushing a hand over his pouch to assure himself it was still there, Giorgio glanced up to see an inn looming in the distance.

Considering what had happened the **last** time he'd stayed in an inn, Giorgio was somewhat reluctant to stop and rest. However, the rational part of him knew that he couldn't keep moving forever.

Despite his newfound paranoia about inns, he also knew that roughing it on the road was far more likely to get him killed by monsters in his sleep.

Swallowing his trepidation, Giorgio approached the inn doors, cautiously pushing them open.

* * *

Fortunately for Giorgio, the inn seemed normal enough, with no sign that Chaos had paid it a visit.

However, there was something else that set it apart from the other inns Giorgio had stayed in.

In one corner of the inn's lobby, a man was leaning against the wall as he played a lively tune on his lute. His outfit was relatively nondescript aside from the pair of green sunglasses on his head, which kept his spiky brown hair pushed back and out of his face.

Though a small fedora lay on the ground before him like a makeshift bowl, there were only a few coins inside, suggesting he hadn't had much luck attracting the attention of the inn's patrons. Nonetheless, the man didn't seem discouraged, continuing to perform with a small smile on his face despite his lack of audience.

Giorgio watched him curiously. From what little he could hear, the man certainly seemed to have a talent for music; his performance was pleasant to the ears, albeit somewhat too cheerful for Giorgio's liking, especially given his current mood. Perhaps it was just bad luck that nobody else had cared enough to stop and listen to the man.

"May I help you, sir?" The innkeeper's polite voice startled Giorgio, pulling his attention away from the musician.

After a quick exchange of words and gold, the innkeeper handed a room key to Giorgio, who was now down to his last piece of gold.

 _Guess I'll have to do something about that too…_

As he turned to leave, Giorgio glanced over at the musician again, only to find the man staring at him with a strange expression that Giorgio couldn't quite identify.

Somewhat unnerved, he broke eye contact with the musician and began to back away from him.

Just then, the man's lively playing slowed, segueing into a different melody. His playing was oddly melancholic, gently weaving a tune of sorrow as he hummed — or perhaps sang — something too quietly for Giorgio to hear.

Discomfort forgotten, Giorgio simply stood there in the lobby, mesmerised by the hauntingly beautiful notes that seemed to echo through his mind, washing over the grief and guilt and loneliness within him.

When the music finally stopped, the despair that had been clinging to him all day seemed to have vanished, replaced by an oddly comforting sense of calm. For the first time that day, it was peaceful and quiet in his head.

It felt a bit like he'd been pricked in the heart… No, not pricked; more like he'd had a splinter in his heart that he hadn't noticed until it was plucked out. Somewhat painful, but in a good way.

Realising he was staring at the musician in astonishment, Giorgio hurriedly averted his gaze, cheeks reddening slightly.

The sensible thing to do would have been to head straight for his room and spare himself further embarrassment.

Somehow, he found himself approaching the musician instead.

The man said nothing but continued to watch Giorgio, gazing at him with what appeared to be a curious mix of sorrow and sympathy.

"…Thank you. You… you play beautifully," Giorgio said quietly.

Even as the rational part of his brain protested, he dropped his last piece of gold in the man's hat with only the slightest pang of regret.

"Thank **you** for your kindness," the musician responded, a soft smile tugging at his lips.

"I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for."

Startled, Giorgio jerked away, staring at the man with wide eyes.

"I–I'm sorry?"

The man's smile turned sad, and a flicker of emotion seemed to flash across his face.

"You have that look about you, like you're trying to find something important to you but don't know where to start. Don't worry, I'm not going to pry. After all, we're all searching for something, aren't we?"

Looking at the man up close, Giorgio realised two things.

Firstly, the musician appeared to be at most a few years older than him.

Secondly, there was a shadow of something painful reflected in his eyes, as though he had a shard of regret lodged deep within his heart.

Somehow, Giorgio knew that the man wasn't just speaking words of meaningless sympathy. This musician, whoever he was, knew nothing about Giorgio or his quest, but he understood Giorgio's inner turmoil all the same.

Tears pricked at his eyes again, but he blinked them away this time, resolving not to break down in front of this stranger.

Giving the man a respectful nod, Giorgio turned away, heading upstairs to his room as the man began playing his lute once more.

* * *

Perhaps it was the music, or perhaps it was just luck. Either way, Giorgio slept dreamlessly that night.

When morning came, he felt… not exactly **better** , considering the circumstances, but more well–rested, at least. Through his lingering melancholy, there was a renewed sense of determination to keep going.

Quietly packing up his meagre belongings, Giorgio slipped out the front door of the inn.

"Do you mind if I join you?" A soft but familiar voice called out from somewhere behind him.

Turning in surprise, Giorgio found the musician from last night gazing at him with that same inscrutable expression.

 _What's he doing here?_

"You're up early," he commented, glancing at the man warily.

"I could say the same of you," the musician replied with a slight smirk.

Seeing Giorgio's guarded expression, his smirk softened into a small smile.

"Seriously though, there's been a lot of monsters around recently. It's not safe to travel alone."

Giorgio eyed the man sceptically.

"No offense, but you don't exactly strike me as a fighter."

"None taken," the musician replied with a laugh, pulling out a knife from his satchel.

"You're right, I'm certainly not the sort of person who goes around hunting monsters, but I can defend myself if something happens, so you don't have to worry about babysitting me."

"Still…" Giorgio hesitated, trying to choose his words tactfully.

The old Giorgio would probably have told the man to get lost by now. But imagining Evan's "I'm disappointed in you" expression was enough to banish any thoughts of rudely dismissing the musician's well–meaning offer of help.

"The journey I'm on is… Not exactly a safe one. It's going to be difficult and dangerous, and… I appreciate you offering to come with me, but you don't know what you're getting yourself into."

The musician was silent for a long moment.

"Again, you're right…" He finally responded. "But I don't need to know."

"You've got your journey and I've got mine. But we're both searching for something, and that's good enough for me. You don't have to talk about your story, and I don't have to talk about mine. As long as we're out on the road, we might as well travel together until our paths diverge. Safety in numbers, right?"

Another long moment stretched by as the two men looked at each other.

Finally, Giorgio broke the silence.

"…My name is Giorgio," he said. "And yours?"

The musician's smile widened.

"Alan," he replied. "Nice to meet you, Giorgio."

"…Same to you," Giorgio responded, and the words didn't taste like as much of a lie as he'd expected. "Shall we be off?"

And so, two strangers became travelling companions as they set off down the road together, each a mystery to the other but neither caring in the slightest.


End file.
